Trump’s Joyride at Daytona 500 in Air Force One Slammed By Democrats
Americans have been left questioning President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Daytona 500 race, slamming the same as a stunt – not only for his use of the Air Force One and the presidential limousine ‘The Beast’, for his circuit to Daytona, but also for the timing of the visit which sits between multi-state floods in the US.
The Daytona 500, also called the ‘Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing,’ is a 500-mile-long NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, very popular with the conservatives.
Trump’s visit to the popular race was highlighted by a flyover by Air Force One across the Daytona International Speedway, cheers from the Florida crowd as Trump appeared on the big screen, and two laps around the track in his limousine, “The Beast”.
The aircraft departed from Palm Beach International Airport, approximately 200 miles from Daytona International Speedway for its flyover.
Greeted with excitement by Trump’s fans and followers, the run has drawn flak from another section of the American audience, which is questioning the unnecessary extravagance of expenses incurred and the timing of the visit.
Additionally, his apathy to the US floods was especially targetted after he put out 14 posts from his time at the Florida racecourse on his Truth Social account.
This included a post by the President of the view from inside the presidential aircraft as it cruised over the site, but who chose not to address the situation in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and North Carolina due to floods in which atleast 13 lives were lost, and tens of thousands left without electricity access.
(AP: Warren County Sheriff’s Office)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced through a statement on X that the impact on his state was “massive”, and confirmed 8 deaths due to weather-related conditions in Kentucky, during a news conference on Sunday, including one fatality of a child.
He also said he had written to President Donald Trump for “an emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky” which declaration was signed by Trump on Saturday night, while also releasing federal funds to aid the response.
What One Presidential Trip on Air Force One Costs
One of the major reasons why presidential travel is so expensive is that the President does not travel alone – he is accompanied by hundreds of people, many vehicles, and a fleet of aircrafts, and that is just the beginning of the expense of it.
But even discounting all the ancillary costs, a single trip on Air Force One could cost a whopping $206,000 an hour to operate as of 2014 (inclusive of fuel, flight consumables and maintenance) during a trip to Los Angeles by then-President Barack Obama, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch.
‘Air Force One’ is actually the call sign given to the Boeing VC-25A when the President is aboard. However, that designation is shared by two planes. The VC-25A is a highly modified version of the Boeing 747-200B airliner.
According to Boeing, each VC-25A carries a crew of 26 and 70 passengers – providing for the president, government officials, Secret Service agents, and guests.
Combining luxury with a high-degree of functionality, the aircraft boasts of 4,000-square-foot space in the VC-25A cabin allowing it to function as a ‘flying White House’, well-equipped to run a country from 40,000 feet.
(www.twz.com)
Interestingly, as per information obtained by The War Zone under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and an official Air Force response, the average per-hour flight cost to operate the Air Force One aircraft was $177,843 in Fiscal Year 2021, down from $206,337 in 2015. This is speculated to be due to the use of improved technology and heavy modifications in the aircraft engines with a view to upgrade the same.
Back When Trump Was a Critic of Joyrides on Air Force One
Originally a major critic of the purchase of the two VC-25Bs, the core of what is officially known as the Presidential Airlift Recapitalization (PAR) program, Trump at one point wanted the order for the two aircrafts to be canceled altogether.
Infact, Air Force had to reportedly to make a case out to Trump in December 2015, for why it needed new Air Force One jets in part through a detailed discussion of the aging nature of the existing VC-25A aircraft which were modified versions of Boeing 747-200 purchased as far back as 1987, and the increasing costs to operate and maintain them.
Trump’s stand on the issue is corroborated by a view he posted on his X handle, “I say we cannot continue to let Obama fly around on Air Force 1, at a cost of millions of dollars a day, for the purpose of politics & play!”
This also became a talking point on popular social media platform Quora, where a former officer of the US Air Force clarified that the cost of the President flying on Air Force one – even if his family is flying with him – is paid out of taxpayers’ money.
The post then quotes Trump’s tweet dated July 24, 2014 on his Twitter (since, X) handle where he decries Obama’s use of Air Force One for “politics and play”, and says that surely, Trump would not be found “wasting taxpayers’ money flying to a NASCAR race or going to his house in Florida over and over again”.
11 years later, and Trump is being accused of doing exactly that – using Air Force One for a “self-promotional joyride”.
Social media hawks did not miss the opportunity to remind Trump of his promises of a ‘Golden Age’ and that he is now blowing taxpayers’ money the same way as he had once protested against during Obama’s rule.
Republicans Against Trump condemned Trump’s Daltona 500 trip saying, questioning the conspicuous absence of Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Donald Trump is once again blowing millions of taxpayer dollars on another self-serving trip, this time to the Daytona 500.
Where’s DOGE?pic.twitter.com/hfpbEgNb3o
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 16, 2025The irony of DOGE slashing employment in the name of reducing fund wastage in several other federal departments, while remaining silent on a massive spend on the Daytona 500 spectacle was not lost on anyone.