General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Melania Trump Racked Up $174,000 In Hotel Bills For a Day Trip To Toronto [View all]Retrograde
(10,130 posts)only lists a couple of events:
12:09 pm (Sept. 23): Arrives in Toronto. The first lady travels to a downtown Sheraton, meets with Britains prince Harry for 20 minutes, and then departs for the Ritz-Carlton.
4 pm: Returns to Sheraton. The first lady meets with U.S. athletes competing in the Invictus Games (an event for disabled veterans created in 2014 by prince Harry) for 20 minutes. She delivers a speech that was one minute, 15 seconds long.
6:35 pm: Arrives at Air Canada Centre. The first lady greets prime minister Justin Trudeau and his family and watches the opening ceremony of the games from a VIP suite.
12:12 am (Sept. 24): Returns to Andrews Air Force base in Maryland.
The reception for the athlete could take place in a hotel ballroom or other function space, but why is the US paying for her to go to a foreign country to meet the grandson of the titular head of that country? Or to host the prime minister of that country? Shouldn't they be hosting her? And what was she doing at the Ritz-Carlton?
I've done a little bit of event planning, and venue costs can get up there if you don't have a halfway decent negotiator handling the details. The multiple hotels seems to me that she's found some new way of grifting, or her staff sucks at planning.