Back in June, Donald Trump used his trip to Europe—ostensibly arranged around a state visit with Queen Elizabeth, a meeting with the Irish prime minister, and D-Day commemorations in France—to pimp Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland, his money-losing resort in the town of Doonbeg. At the time, critics pointed out that it made little sense for the president to fly hundreds of miles back and forth across Europe to fit in a couple sleepovers at the for-profit business he owns, and that it was patently obvious he was doing so to bring publicity and a cash injection to a course that has lost more than $1 million every year from 2014 to 2017. But apparently the White House was unencumbered by such ethical concerns, because Vice President Mike Pence’s current trip to Ireland will include a similar scheme to line the president’s pockets.

Pence, who arrived in Ireland on Monday after Trump decided to stay in the U.S. to play golf at his Virginia course, will be staying at Doonbeg during his visit, despite the fact that it makes no logistical sense, as his meetings are located 180 miles away in Dublin and will require him to commute via plane. While the VP has never missed an opportunity to suck up to the boss, Marc Short, his chief of staff, insisted that brownnosing was absolutely not a consideration here. Short told reporters Tuesday that Pence had been planning to visit Doonbeg anyway for “family reasons,” and sure, yeah, the president mentioned Pence could stay his resort (for a price), but it wasn’t like he put a gun to his head or anything:

With Trump, of course, there’s no such thing a just a suggestion; should Pence have passed up the generous offer to get the Doonbeg name out there and boost revenue at the president’s club, he’d likely have woken up to a Twitter tirade about how it made no sense to stay in Dublin when such a beautiful property was available. Pence’s trip happens to come a week after Trump, who’s never missed an opportunity to funnel money from taxpayers directly into his wallet, announced that Trump National Doral, the Miami resort where business is in sharp decline, is a strong contender to host next year’s G7 summit. “It’s got tremendous acreage, many hundreds of acres, so we can handle whatever happens,” Trump said from Biarritz, France, pitching the property to reporters and noticeably failing to mention the bedbugs.

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