Why do so many anti-Donald Trump popular tribunes love to live high on the hog?
Take New York’s own Attorney General Tish James, now riding her marquee prosecution of ex-prez for business fraud to buzzy headlines and lefty seal-clapping.
She’s also raised a ton of money for her various campaigns — and, per public data collated by an intrepid Twitter user, is spending it in a variety of … eye-opening ways.
Over 2023, she dropped more than $28,500 on hotel accommodations, including luxury joints in Puerto Rico.
That’s part of close to $120,000 spent on hotels since 2018.
She spent north of $100,000 on meals and catering at places ranging from ritzy steakhouses to Dave & Buster’s over that same span.
Don’t forget the thousands upon thousands she spent at Target, BJ’s Wholesale, and an NYC nightclub — all under the expense report rubric of “office.”
Now, we’re not suggesting James has done anything illegal.
She’s a longtime public servant and a sharp criminal lawyer; she knows where the line is and how not to cross it.
No: She’s clearly legally using campaign cash to juice up her lifestyle.
That’s a time-honored, deeply slimy tradition among America’s electeds.
No one would pay the slightest attention to James’ expenditures if she hadn’t set herself up as an almighty high moral arbiter of American political life.
But that posturing is now the single biggest element of her political brand.
And it makes her spending more than 4 grand in campaign funds at some outfit called “Nathan’s Luxlifestyle” on Martha’s Vineyard look sketchy indeed.
Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman satirist Juvenal asked: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes — “Who watches the watchers?”
High-talking big spenders like James (and Atlanta’s Fani Willis) prove how relevant that question still is.