The US president’s scheduled visit to India a few days from now, according to writer Shamani Joshi in Vice, has set in motion “ridiculous things India is doing” to spruce up Ahmedabad, a city on the president’s itinerary.
For a nation with a declining GDP that “was responsible for a global economic slowdown,” getting ready for POTUS is quite costly.
Okay, what’s underway?
A “400 metre long wall” is being built. Does this sound familiar? “But instead of keeping out immigrants, the function of the wall is to block from Trump’s sight the slums that show up on the way to the stadium Trump is set to give a speech at,” according to Vice. And “as if blowing up big money on a wall wasn’t enough, authorities have taken it a step further and are actually kicking out slum dwellers who have been living in the area near the newly-built Motera Stadium for more than two decades.”
There’s more. “Every inch of the 22-km road Trump will set foot on,” according to Vice, is being pimped out. “This includes setting up 28 stages along the way, organizing cultural events” and planting trees and flower beds. More than 2,200 buses will be dispatched “to pick up people for the stadium event. They’re even installing fogging machines because why only build a wall to hide all our flaws.” Joshi writes, “when you can also add a splash of superficiality to the celebrations.”
To be fair, city and county officials in Colorado, and where I am in California, sometimes spend a lot on ridiculous things, too. But the spending for Trump’s visit, detailed in the Vice article, does seem rather excessive.
Speaking of spending, did you see video of the president’s recent visit to the Daytona 500? It would be interesting to know what that cost; for example, the dollars spent transporting the presidential limo — known as The Beast — to the Daytona International Speedway for that ceremonial lap around the speedway, and money spent transporting everyone — POTUS, his support staff and perhaps others — to Daytona Beach.
That must have cost a pretty penny.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.