Editor's note: This column is part of a series of columns and news articles examining President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. We asked Texas conservative thinkers to address the question: What does it mean to be conservative during the Trump administration?

I'm old enough to remember when Republicans at least claimed to care about government waste. And I'm only 23 years old.

You don't have to go very far back. For example, back in 2013, before Donald Trump moved into the Oval Office, longtime Republican leader Newt Gingrich tweeted, "Trump and president obsma [sic] both golf but trump doesn't charge the taxpayers $920,000 for a golf weekend in florida."

Trump and president obsma both golf but trump doesn't charge the taxpayers $920,000 for a golf weekend in florida. — Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) March 8, 2013

The comment has not aged well.

In his first 80 days as president, Trump has spent around $21.6 million — of taxpayers' money — at his private Palm Beach club, Mar-A-Lago, according to CNN. That's over the span of six weekends, or 21 days.

In 2012, before becoming the golfer-in-chief, Trump tweeted, "President @BarackObama's vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars----Unbelievable!"

President @BarackObama's vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars----Unbelievable! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2012

At this rate, Trump will waste more taxpayer dollars on travel in his first year than former President Barack Obama did in his entire eight years. Obama spent almost $97 million on travel, according to Judicial Watch. And, for the record, Obama didn't golf a single time during the first 13 weeks of his presidency.

According to CNN, taxpayers are also coughing up between $127,000 to $146,000 a day, on top of Trump's vacations, to protect the first lady, since Melania won't move to the White House with the president.

As of April 16, Trump had spent 28 percent of his term at Mar-A-Lago, NBC News estimated.

That, as the president would say, is unbelievable.

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How does that make America great again? It doesn't, obviously. Taxpayers were promised great deals under Trump, and yet, now we're stuck paying for elitist golf vacations.

If conservatives can't uphold conservative values under a Republican president, then what's the point of supporting the GOP at all?

Of course, Trump's lavishly wasteful vacations are only a small part of the problem.

For example, according to CNN, Trump wants to increase "defense" spending by $54 billion —which should be a slap in the face to any conservative who truly supports smaller government.

According to the Fiscal Times, the 59 Tomahawk missiles launched against Syria in early April cost taxpayers more than $90 million.

The man spending your tax dollars to bomb other nations tweeted back in 2013, when Obama was doing the same thing, "Do NOT attack Syria, fix U.S.A." And he was right.

In that same year, he warned, aggression against Syria is "an attack that will bring nothing but trouble for the U.S." and that there's "no upside and tremendous downside" to an attack. In fact, as recently as this fall, Trump was warning that attacking Syria could "lead to World War III."

Yet here we are, witnessing the president waste our money in a totally unnecessary — let alone totally inhumane — war that has nothing to do with America's national security.

Perhaps what's most disappointing is that the Republican leaders who criticized Obama's attacks on Syria, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are embracing the very same actions now that their own party controls the Oval Office. House Speaker Paul Ryan now supports Trump's unapproved intervention, despite having said in 2013 that a military strike on Syria "will make things worse."

Trump himself tweeted in 2013, "The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria." And now it's very clear that the GOP either lacks principles or backbone. Or possibly both.

The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2013

Maybe the GOP has given up on defending small government. Maybe Trump and his supporters have replaced any real principles with this incoherent populist nonsense. Maybe "conservatism" no longer implies support for a limited government that maximizes individual freedom.

If that's the case, we small-government supporters have a tough road ahead.

Mac McCann is a writer in Austin. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News. Email: MacMcCann1@gmail.com