Anyone from Scandinavia at least would be horrified by this story. It makes the US presidency look like a 3rd world dictatorship.

If it's OK for a president to behave in this way, then you better believe this goes all the way down (and every person is abusing public funds to various extents).

Italian politicians are not exactly known for their frugal lifestyle, but this story makes them pale in comparison. For example, a few days ago the minister of agriculture merely had a train (running late, besides) take an unscheduled stop so he could get out earlier and attend a public event. This made the headlines as an outrageous abuse of priviledges.

Look what brazilian politicians do and you will be shocked how this train endevour is so tamed it would not even be news around here. The brazilian president spend R$773 millions this year on travelling alone ($157.6 millions in US dollars)

How do you even manage that? If you fly first class every hour of every day that would still be impossible. So I guess the man charters entire airplanes?

It probably includes staff travelling costs, security etc.

Flying first class is for peasants.

They fly a official plane and bring a lot of people with it. There was a plan to replace the place, but for the time it got backlashed so hard they put the idea aside, for now at least.

> a few days ago the minister of agriculture merely had a train (running late, besides) take an unscheduled stop so he could get out earlier

Wtf, a politician is allowed to do that? How was the politician able to convince the train to stop? Are there laws enabling politicians to reschedule trains at any point?

I kind of find it hilarious when I see the absolutely massive amount of security that surrounds the US president, and then look at our own prime minister, who takes the bike through the city to work every day.

How many of your country's prime ministers have been assassinated, and when was the last attempt? What would be the global effect of a sudden large swing in your country's policies?

Johnson became president when JFK was assassinated. This was within forty years of an attempt on FDR's life--the bullet got the mayor of Chicago instead.

The US is a de facto neo-fascist oligarchy ruled by the incestuous triad of corporations, Evangelical Christianity and the military industrial complex. The vestigial organs of democracy remain to convince the populace that their choice between 99% Hitler and 100% Hitler actually matters.

Yes, the corruption is absolute and universal, from the President down to the beat cop. I mean, what's described in the article is probably tame compared to what modern Presidents have gotten up to.

It's generally accepted that each president gets to redecorate and install/convert various amenities, whether it's a bowling alley or a basketball court.

There's nothing third world about it -- for security and logistical reasons it's not like the president can just hop over to the YMCA to shoot some hoops.

So because the president's family is so "trapped" in the White House, special accommodations get made. And remember, this is their home for 4–8 years.

This isn't building palaces with gold sculptures of themselves or anything. And improvements get kept for the next president.

This particular story, however, seems presumably greatly exaggerated for comedic effect (if there's any truth to it at all).

The suggestion for improvement is pretty obvious. Don't use the security budget for personal capricious projects, don't bully people, etc.

This doesn't even count as reading between the lines, they're obvious implications from the language in the article.