There are three things to remember about Government contracting: Commitments, Obligations, and Disbursements. Commitments are the estimated costs pre-contract or during negotiations; it is usually higher than the cost, but gives one a ceiling. Obligations (what we are talking here) means there is a contract and the money has been made available to honor that contract of an official funding document. Disbursement is actually paying out the money once the service has been completed and the bill paid (maybe everybody already knew this, but thought it worht mentioning).
It was also a Firm-Fixed Price contract, which means the US Government told the Cairo folks what they wanted and the Hotel said "we need $95,000 to do what you want) and the US contracted for that amount exactly. If the hotel had higher costs, then they ate it.
What we don’t have is the Statement of Work, or Request for Proposal; in other words, we don’t know what the hotel was asked to do. Maybe they had to shut off access to parts of the hotel or dining areas that cost them money, or close sections for Security reasons that cost them money; we simply don’t know.
And without that knowledge, we can’t say if this was a farcial expense or not.
In the Oprah case, it seems likely to me that Loser Donald believes what he’s saying, out of a combination of narcissism and dementia;
I, Donald Trump, was on Oprah awhile back
I was the most important guest on the show, because I’m Donald Trump
I, Donald Trump, heard on TV that Oprah’s show ended a little while later
I must’ve been on one of the very last episodes, because I’m the most important guest she’s ever had, because I’m Donald Trump
People aren’t talking about my big beautiful appearance on Oprah as bigly as they should be, considering that it should have had tremendous ratings, because I’m Donald Trump
Therefore Oprah must have burned the tapes because she is a hater who is jealous of me, Donald Trump
“Stupid” — or the appropriate variant thereof — should always be assumed whenever CFSG’s name crops up. Specifying it separately may get one in trouble with the Department of Redundancy Department.
The thing is, the fight is not over even if the Dems take the House. In fact, it could make Trump stronger in some ways.
What I’ll be looking at as a barometer of this election cycle isn’t just the mid-term federal elections, but also the state and local elections. Fer chrissake, people, please, for the love of God, get out there, take your friends and family to the polls with you, and stoke them up to vote down ballot -and I mean, like, way down to the state and local level. This is where the neo-fascists and neo-confederates have been kicking our asses the last 25 years.
I think you may be on to it. My first thought was something to do with bourbon, but since Trump doesn’t drink, that’s probably not it. That would seem to leave “sex” as the wink-wink reason you’d cross state lines.
Strangely, he was in Cleveland when he made the remark. Cleveland rocks, but it’s not all that close to Kentucky. Perhaps Trump thought he was in Cincinnati.
Oh, that’s it! At 20$/sock plus 10$ per folded pair plus urgent rates, do full laundry for a couple of guests and yeah. That’s per sock, not per pair of socks.
And if the problem was that someone negotiated badly, well, that someone still needs smacking.
Hey, be fair. The hotel’s expecting a hyuuuuge loss of future business. I mean, would you want to touch, let alone sleep in, the same bed Trump or any of his family (or “partners”) slept (or whatever) in?
Shit, el-Sisi probably got the bulk of it and has agreed to reciprocate by having his whole entourage regularly stay in Trump’s hotels. That’s the Occam’s Razor explanation, anyway. Banana Republic SOP.
