# Melania Trump and Son Barron Won't Move Immediately into White House **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 22, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703 "2016-11-22T00:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/101 "2016-11-23T14:40:37Z")
Tiffany Trump dodged him at one of the debates like she was wrapping up a bad first date. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZoKfOtz85w) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/102 "2016-11-23T14:53:22Z")
But there were other videos taken from a broader angle that suggest she suddenly saw someone in the group and was looking at them, not noticing her dad. It was only a split-second shot, and the impression you get depends heavily on which version you saw. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/103 "2016-11-23T14:58:42Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > This is just as repulsive as Trump himself mocking a disabled journalist. Nevermind that I’ve never heard any indication that Barron is in any was disabled. You should be ashamed of yourself. That post was a shitty thing to do. > [@Clothahump](#): > > I have read some incredibly repulsive things here on the SDMB, but that takes the cake. > > **Sal,** you are a sick motherfucker. There’s just no other way to describe what you posted. Agree with **Broomstick** and **Clothahump**. Kids are off limits in political debates. **Sal** just demonstrated why Melania is making the right decision, keeping Barron out of the swamp that is Washington. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/104 "2016-11-23T14:59:36Z")
And from an even wider shot, like from the moon, one wouldn’t know she was there at all. But as you can see now, she was standing in line to genuflect and walked right up to him. then pulled away. She noticed him. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/105 "2016-11-23T16:47:39Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > I did not complain, just giving different scenarios as to why this is. It could be just that, they want to wait until school year is done. Or it could be something else, and this is all an excuse. I gave potential reasons objectively, not that I believe these are the reasons myself. > > Plus the press covered this, so it’s not like I was the one who started it. > > It’s good to be open minded and think and question things Shodan. Take for example Ivanka’s involvement in her father’s meetings with leaders, people question whether this is an attempt on the part of the Trump family to make business deals all the while discussing foreign policy. > > Or whether Steve Bannon is a racist, he may not be but given his media outlet has published racist material, we should question his character and that of Donald Trump by extension. > > Don’t worry we are not looking to disrupt poor widdle Barron, just questioning things. > > You are 60 years old and have not grasped that , but it’s never too late to start thinking. > > Regards > > :smack::rolleyes: If the idea was to make yourself look even pettier than Donald Trump, then congratulations - it worked. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lurking\_Quahog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lurking_quahog/32/21274_2.png) [@Lurking\_Quahog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lurking_Quahog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/106 "2016-11-23T19:31:23Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Barron needs to stay in NY to run his Richie Rich line of suits for boys. Thanks for making me laugh harder than I have in days! And great user name/post combo! ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/107 "2016-11-23T22:05:32Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > You forgot this part from your cite: “It should be noted, that precise hourly rate is an Air Force accounting fiction of its own.” I didn’t “forget” it: I took it for granted that everyone here would realize that [my cite’s](http://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/485097272/fact-check-air-force-one-who-pays) “precise hourly rate” amount of “$206,337” for the cost of operating Air Force One has to be spurious _in its least significant figures_. Which is why I rounded it up in my own estimate to an even quarter-million dollars. But that doesn’t mean that the **more** significant digits of that number are untrustworthy. Even if we don’t believe that the Air Force really knows for certain that the **precise** hourly cost of operating Air Force One is $206,337 rather than $206,336 or $206,338, AFAIK there is no reason to doubt their estimate that the **approximate** cost is more like $206,000 than like $150,000 or $300,000. So my point stands: namely, that we **do** have a reasonable ballpark estimate that the annual cost of operating Air Force One is actually significantly **less** than the $1 billion that Trump’s proposed commuting schedule would add to the annual cost of Presidential transportation. In short, _contra_ **Martin Hyde** ’s claim, an extra $1 billion per year is **not** in fact negligible couch-cushion change compared to what the taxpayers already shell out for the President’s transportation needs. > [@John Mace](#): > > Which certainly has no bearing on whether they actually will shrug it off or not. True, which is why it’s all the more important to subject such hypocrisy to scrutiny and criticism. The fact that Trump’s personal lifestyle choices are projected to cost American taxpayers **orders of magnitude** more money than those of Obama or his predecessors ever did is something that Obama detractors/Trump supporters should not be allowed to get away with blithely ignoring. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/108 "2016-11-23T22:23:35Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I didn’t “forget” it: I took it for granted that everyone here would realize that [my cite’s](http://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/485097272/fact-check-air-force-one-who-pays) “precise hourly rate” amount of “$206,337” for the cost of operating Air Force One has to be spurious _in its least significant figures_. Which is why I rounded it up in my own estimate to an even quarter-million dollars. > > But that doesn’t mean that the **more** significant digits of that number are untrustworthy. Even if we don’t believe that the Air Force really knows for certain that the **precise** hourly cost of operating Air Force One is $206,337 rather than $206,336 or $206,338, AFAIK there is no reason to doubt their estimate that the **approximate** cost is more like $206,000 than like $150,000 or $300,000. > So my point stands: namely, that we **do** have a reasonable ballpark estimate that the annual cost of operating Air Force One is actually significantly **less** than the $1 billion that Trump’s proposed commuting schedule would add to the annual cost of Presidential transportation. > > In short, _contra_ **Martin Hyde** ’s claim, an extra $1 billion per year is **not** in fact negligible couch-cushion change compared to what the taxpayers already shell out for the President’s transportation needs. I was not pointing out a mistake in significant digits. The clear statement is that the number given cannot be trusted. There is no indication that it’s in the right ballpark, only that it’s “an accounting fiction”. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/109 "2016-11-23T22:30:59Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The fact that Trump’s personal lifestyle choices are projected to cost American taxpayers **orders of magnitude** more money than those of Obama or his predecessors ever did is something that **Obama detractors/Trump supporters should not be allowed to get away with blithely ignoring.** They chose to ignore Trump being accused of all manner of awful, personal crimes; his supporters will only mind wasteful spending when it bolsters whatever argument they’re making at the moment. There will not be a moment here someone says, ‘You know, I love that Trump fella to pieces despite his history of treating women poorly and would vote for him another 2 or 3 times if I could. But all that money spent on flying him all over is beyond the pale.’ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/110 "2016-11-23T22:34:24Z")
BTW, the whole business about AF1 is pretty much besides the point anyway. The way to do this would be more like: What was the average annual “cost of being president” for Obama, adjust for inflation, and what will be the average “cost of being president” for Trump if he spends X% of his time in NYC. And of course this thread is about Melania, not Donald, so it’s even more complicated than that. Not that we know what’s going to happen, only what is rumored at this point. And rumors are flying fast and furious right now, so I’m not going to worry too much about doing the math for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/111 "2016-11-23T22:35:13Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Kids are off limits in political debates. As I said, I agree that they definitely should be, but many more influential opinion-makers than **salinqmind** don’t follow that rule (e.g., Rush Limbaugh’s notorious reference to 12-year-old Chelsea Clinton as “the White House dog”). The number of ordinary opinion-havers who grossly insult and denigrate politicians’ young children, of course, is legion: just google the names of Sasha and Malia Obama along with any traditional racist epithet, for example, and see the tide of festering shit remarks. [QUOTE=Northern Piper] **Sal** just demonstrated why Melania is making the right decision, keeping Barron out of the swamp that is Washington. [/QUOTE] :dubious: I don’t think Barron Trump’s place of residence will make much difference to nasty people who want to make fun of him. I personally don’t care where Melania and her son choose to live (except, as I noted above, to the extent that that choice puts a significantly increased cost burden on taxpayers), but I think that defending their choice on the grounds of wanting to protect them from publicity is a fairly feeble position. The way our Chief Executive system is set up has made it traditional and inevitable that the President’s family will get a lot of publicity. This is why Presidential candidates generally check with their families about their willingness to spend some years in the public eye **before** they run for office. Saying that all that tiresome publicity (and its inevitable subset of a certain amount of nasty vitriolic abuse) is something that Presidential families are entitled to be shielded from is an unrealistic view of the US Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703/112 "2016-11-23T22:45:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I was not pointing out a mistake in significant digits. The clear statement is that the number given cannot be trusted. There is no indication that it’s in the right ballpark, only that it’s “an accounting fiction”. :rolleyes: Nonsense, **John**. Such cost estimates may be intrinsically imprecise, but they’re not pure numerological voodoo. It’s not as if all we **REALLY** know about the hourly cost of operating Air Force One is that it’s somewhere between, say, ten dollars and $100 million. The ballpark in question is actually pretty well mapped out, as [this Snopes article](http://www.snopes.com/taxpayers-air-force-one/) describes: > [@](#): > > For starters, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) reported in April 2016 that the cost per flight hour (CPFH) for Air Force One had decreased in the last few years: > > > [@](#): > > > > The most easily quantifiable item to estimate is the cost to operate Air Force One (AF1), a Boeing VC-25A, the military version of the 747 aircraft. Some good news for taxpayers is that the costs per flight hour for AF1 has gone down again. In 2013, it cost $228,288. Last year, it was reported at $206,337 per flight hour. In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Judicial Watch, the Air Force reported that the FY 2016 cost per flight hour for the AF1 is $180,118. In other words, although the precise $206,337 figure is spurious, **it conveys valid _approximate_ information:** namely, that the hourly operating cost of Air Force One is more like $206,000 than like $150,000 or $300,000. Which is exactly what I said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melania-trump-and-son-barron-wont-move-immediately-into-white-house/772703.md?page=5)