SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- Until this year, high-end sports aficionados and leaders of the links prized the Garia Edition Soleil de Minuit as the most expensive golf cart to grace the greens. At a staggering $52,000, and manufactured in the same factory as Porsche and Aston Martin, the Soleil de Minuit was unsurpassed “in high end specifications, luxurious accessories, performance and therefore, price,” according to journalists at TheRichest. However as 2017 dawned, the so-called Carrera of the Course was dethroned by the Mansonry Prism Golf Cart, co-created by Garia, which sold for $69,000. On Wednesday, the Masonry Prism’s tenure turned out to be short-lived as Guinness named Air Force One the world’s most expensive golf cart.

Air Force One: Luxury, Style, Security, Speed

While average, down-to-earth billionaires have insisted that Garia vehicles outperform the presidential plane in terms of affordability and functionality, none could deny the superior artistry, craftsmanship, speed and amenities offered by Air Force One. In terms of durability and stamina, Air Force One clocks in an impressive 1,986 miles for each round trip between the White House and Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort.

As Business Insider noted, Air Force One provides a suite of accommodations that even the most elite brand of ground-based golf cart fails to match. The three-level custom Boeing 747-200B “has 4,000 square feet of interior floor space, including a conference room, dining room, private quarters for the president, offices for senior staff members, a medical operating room (a doctor flies on every flight), press area, two food-preparation galleys that can provide 100 meals, and multifrequency radios for air-to-air and air-to-ground communication.”

With a price tag of $3.2 billion and a projected budget of $4 billion, based on Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Air Force figures, President Trump’s flying golf cart is unbeaten in cost and comfort. But maintenance and operations are not the only financial considerations.

Additional Record Breaking Costs

During Trump’s first 33 days in office, he traveled to his Florida retreat 11 times, with an estimated price tag of $10 million. That figure dwarfed an entire year of Obama’s vacation costs. CBS News explained that “Obama racked up about $97 million in travel costs” during his tenure in the White House. The story concluded that Trump’s tax burden on the public, given the current rate of sojourns to his Florida resort, would “eclipse that by the end of his first year.”

On March 26, CNN discovered that Trump had made his 13th visit to the golf course since taking office. Analysts at Politico estimate the cost of each trip at $3 million, which is in addition to the fees for Air Force One. As a result, Guinness World Records found no competition for the title of world’s most expensive golf cart. For the next one to four years, the aircraft will undoubtedly wear that crown. Fortunately, the exorbitant fees are passed through to American taxpayers directly. Mr. Trump, unlike the billionaires who purchase more reasonable golf vehicles, will not need to spend a dime of his own money.

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