What did I learn from all the articles bellyaching (here, here, here, and here) about how much Trump is costing the American taxpayer for his “excessive” travel? Not much. Apparently much of the actual costs for security, travel, and accommodations for presidential trips is not revealed, but estimated or gleaned from sources not directly connected to the events.

There are some reports that it is costing $2,000,000 per day just for baseline security. There is a report that Trump’s three trips to Mar-a-Lago has so far cost $10,000,000 but again that is a guess (the guess is actually based on how much it cost Obama to travel in 2013!!). People were upset that the Trump boys are costing hundreds of thousands for security to fly around the world while they are opening new hotels. And there is disgust that the Secret Service would rent out a floor of Trump Tower in New York to provide security for Melania and Barron, and Trump when he is at home.

The Defense Department and Secret Service, for instance, have sought to rent space in Trump Tower, where leasing a floor can cost $1.5 million a year — though neither agency has disclosed any details.

So is it Trump’s jet-setting lifestyle of excess that is causing all of these so-called out of the ordinary expenses? Let’s just calm down for minute and think about what is appropriate protection for the president. This president is a unique person, who came from a big business background. It is not unusual for a person like that to have several properties. He happens to have four adult children with lives of their own. His young son and wife have stayed in their home in New York for personal reasons.

Should he not have been elected for any of those reasons? Do we want to make a rule that candidates may not have adult children that could possibly need security? If the president has adult children should they be restricted in their travel? Should his wife and young son be forced to live in Washington. D.C. (where they would still have their own security detail regardless)? Should a president be restricted from returning to his home, or other properties that he has used regularly as a private citizen? What are the appropriate restrictions on a president’s travel and what makes something official business or just for pleasure? Should the president be restricted to a certain number of trips per year and then only of moderate cost to the tax payer? Is it ok for the Secret Service to pay rent to the president for staying in his hotel, where he also maintains a home? When hosting foreign dignitaries must the president do it in a certain location? Should a president have to pay for all or part of his own security?

These are just some of the considerations that would be wise to contemplate, but the rule will have to be for all presidents. If we are concerned about excessive costs, then let’s come up with the rules, instead of just comparing to past presidents and their own individual excesses. If we don’t like excesses let’s see the actual numbers and figure out what we as tax payers are willing to pay. There is nothing wrong with asking the president, and all government officials, to be less spendthrifty with our money.

For Secret Service to be in close proximity to a president on his personal property is common place. Joe Biden actually had a cottage on his property in Delaware and rented it out to the Secret Service. This is no different from the Secret Service staying on a floor in the Trump Tower. Michelle Obama brought her mama to the White House and took her on international trips. That was an extra expense not contemplated by the tax payer, nor was a New York date night. Michelle went to Aspen for skiing, but there’s skiing much closer to D.C. (Snowshoe, WV comes to mind).  The Obama daughters got to take friends with them on several trips so the tax payer paid for people not even related to the president to be protected. Michelle and Barrack took separate planes on several occasions to go to Hawaii, Martha’s Vineyard, and Argentina, and even the White House dog Bo got his own plane a couple times (ok, so other staff flew with Bo too, but still, accommodations for the dog would be fine if they ever seemed to treat him like part of the family – why does he have to be on the staff plane?). Here’s more travel that I bet you didn’t even know about: Europe, Far East, Africa (become the First lady, See the World!). The biggest complaint people had about Obama is that he was taking all these vacations (38 by 2015) and he never seemed to work very hard. That is definitely something we can’t say about Trump.

What costs do presidents pay when they go on vacation?

4. Taxpayers foot the bill for presidential vacations.

Presidents pay for their own and their families’ lodging, food and incidentals while on vacation, which may be why they generally prefer to stay at properties they own, as guests of wealthy friends or at the official presidential retreat at Camp David.

But since presidential vacations are always working vacations, taxpayers cover what it takes to keep the commander in chief working. Lodging and meals are an extra cost, but taxpayers pay the salaries of White House staffers and Secret Service agents whether the president stays in Washington or not, so a presidential vacation does not significantly increase personnel costs.

The biggest additional expense is the use of Air Force One and the support aircraft needed to haul all the equipment and ground transportation the president needs. The Congressional Research Service estimated that the cost of operating Air Force One is nearly $180,000 per hour. Ultimately, a presidential vacation can cost taxpayers an additional $1 million or considerably more than if the president had just stayed put in the White House. How significant this is within a $3.5 trillion federal budget is something voters can decide for themselves.

Let’s stop complaining about numbers that aren’t confirmed. We are just arguing about something that might not even be true. So for everyone who is getting browbeaten into submission about supposedly being a hypocrite for not criticizing Trump on his expenditures thus far, just ask for some hard numbers. There are probably lots of places we could cut back, including presidential pensions. We need to stop dividing each other based on media reports that don’t even link to primary source documents (I had to search for the Judicial Watch docs, and was sorely disappointed to see that they linked to the Politico piece for their source, and Politico linked to Judicial Watch for the quote of Politico’s own number, hmmm; here’s the Judicial Watch running total on Obama expenditures – $97,000,000), and certainly not getting hard feelings over estimates, guestimates, and probably some lies.

If these costs are accurate, and we don’t like them, then we need to come up with a fair rule that will work far into the future. This president should have shown us that unconventional candidates, people who have not spent their life in government, are likely to emerge. It would be a good time now to consider what the tax payer is willing to pay instead of complaining at very new expenditure, especially because people have very short memories.