Donald Trump's trip to the Super Bowl was an extremely rare occurrence for sitting a US President and we might have seen why that was the case after the overall cost has been rumored, leaving many enraged amid mass spending cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency.
Much of President Trump's first weeks in office has been dominated by spending cuts, largely led by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (otherwise known as DOGE) - a private advisory board aiming to slash $2,000,000,000,000 from the federal budget.
DOGE has targeted a number of high profile strands of government, removing USAID and Department of Education funding alongside almost unilateral reductions in spending for diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives.
Trump himself has added to the cost-saving initiatives with his own pushes, which most recently involved halting the California High Speed Rail project that he claimed to be seriously 'overbudget'.
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This, however, was contrasted following Trump's trip to watch the Super Bowl in New Orleans on February 9, that saw the Philadelphia Eagles defeat reigning champions Kansas City Chiefs.
What made this event remarkable was the fact that it was the first time the President of the United States had attended the Super Bowl - arguably the country's biggest live event - and we might just have found out why.
Rumors circulating indicate that Trump's visit cost around $20,000,000, which is entirely funded by the taxpayer, so it's understandable that many have been left outraged after other key parts of government have had their spending slashed.
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Users on Reddit have worked it out that, for the 3.5 hour duration of the Super Bowl (which Trump actually left early), it cost $95,238.09 per minute, and a staggering $1,587.30 every single second.
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The reason why this cost is so high is due to the extreme levels of security needed for any event that the President attends. The Tennessee Tribune outlines that this figure is broken down into the costs of operating Air Force One, background checking venues, vetting thousands of staff, flying an additional six planes to support the trip, and providing security during the event itself.
It's then not hard to understand where the staggering figure comes from, although that doesn't make it any easier to swallow for many Americans.
"Where's DOGE when you need them?" questions one user on the aforementioned Reddit thread, with another adding that the trip is "so efficient."
Some on other social media platforms aren't as convinced by the rumored price, insisting: "It didn't cost anywhere close to $20 million. I love how morons just make s*** up."
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While it's true that there is no official source for the figure being thrown around, it's not hard to imagine that the accurate figure would be within the rough range.