Melania not moving into White House

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I love how you guys whine about security costs.  FDR spent so much time in Hyde Park and racked up so much cost to protect him and house staff that the feds actually bought the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park because it was cheaper than the rent costs.  His protective detail and staff lived there while they tended to him. 

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

At least in Hyde Park, FDR wasn't disrupting the lives of millions of people every day.  No matter who it is, a second White House in the middle of Manhattan is a logistical nightmare that only an egotistical maniac who enjoys getting even with people who didn't vote for him..  Nevermind.

Sorry if I couldn't care less about Fifth Avenue being inconvenienced but at least four of the previous responses were addressing costs, which is what I was responding to.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

At least in Hyde Park, FDR wasn't disrupting the lives of millions of people every day.  No matter who it is, a second White House in the middle of Manhattan is a logistical nightmare that only an egotistical maniac who enjoys getting even with people who didn't vote for him..  Nevermind.

Sorry if I couldn't care less about Fifth Avenue being inconvenienced but at least four of the previous responses were addressing costs, which is what I was responding to.

Do you have any idea how much Fifth Avenue being "inconvenienced" will cost? Idiocy.

Fifth Avenue isn't closed and yes, I haven't disagreed the security costs are high, but as I pointed out, he's not the first to run up a high tab.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Is it even possible to defend such a tall building at the level needed for the protection of the President? Not even including the fact it's in the middle of Manhattan?

According to some retired Secret Service agents, very doable.  Mr. Heintze, formerly of the Secret Service opines on that directly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/nyregion/fifth-avenue-in-front-of-trump-tower-will-stay-open-de-blasio-says.html?_r=0

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

OH and for the last 8 years, Obama has had his Chicago home surrounded 24/365 by a CPD and Secret Service detail and he's stayed in it maybe less than a half dozen times in 8 years.  It's a ridiculous cost to protect these guys.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Didn't know protecting Hyde Park was that expensive, though.

I've visited Hyde Park.  I think it was a challenge because they had to house round the clock teams of security and staff.  The tours there suggest Churchill spent some time visiting there as did other foreign leaders.  But it was basically a round the clock operation and unlike NYC or another big city, there was no Secret Service office there, so housing and feeding and paying a full compliment of security and staff was pricey, even by the standards of those years.

I'm not begrudging the fact he was there, but thinking Trump's the first one to run up a security tab is simply not true.