Long before Donald Trump first ran for president — which was back in 2000, when he ran with the Reform Party — he was known for having an opulent lifestyle. Trump's hotels and casinos, including the Taj Mahal on the Atlantic City boardwalk, were flamboyant and ostentatious.
Yet Trump had some simpler tastes as well, including his love of Diet Coke and McDonald's.
NBC News reporters Peter Nicholas and Megan Shannon, in an article published on September 19, describe the ways in which Trump is taking full advantage of the perks that come with being president.
"How powerful is the U.S. president?," Nicholas and Shannon write. "Enough to take the weightiest job imaginable and make it pretty entertaining. Take a couple of weeks recently out of Donald Trump's life. He slept Wednesday night in a castle fit quite literally for a king, the guest of a British leadership eager to impress a president who likes to be honored. He left Thursday for a White House that he's remaking to suit his tastes."
The reporters continue, "Workers have been digging up trees to accommodate his passion project: a new ballroom that will seat up to 900 guests. Trump's trip to Yankee Stadium on September 11 to watch a baseball game was the ninth sporting event he's attended since retaking office, compared to just one at the same point in his first term, NBC News research shows. Next week, he heads to Long Island to watch the Ryder Cup golf tournament at the fabled Bethpage Black course."
According to a GOP senator who was interviewed on condition of anonymity, Trump is "very proud of the gold in his office, and he'll hold an extensive tutorial on gold plate.”
Nicholas and Shannon observe, "Trump has added gilded flourishes to the Oval Office, while paving over the Rose Garden to protect high-heeled shoes and wingtips from the soggy grass. At a dinner he hosted on the new patio earlier this month for Republican lawmakers, he christened the event the 'Rose Garden Club' — a nod to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach."
Read the full NBC News article at this link.