“Social cost of 580 billion won following Trump’s allegation of manipulation of elections”

According to the analysis, the cost of US society is over $59 million (about 580 billion won) due to the claims of former President Donald Trump that “the election was stolen.”
The Washington Post (WP) compiled the money spent by the federal and state governments on the 6th (local time) to respond to false claims and actions by former President Trump and his supporters based on government spending and interviews with officials.

The largest portion is the cost of mobilizing the National Guard. 25,000 troops were stationed in Washington until the presidential inauguration ceremony on the 20th as a result of an armed demonstration by Trump supporters at the Capitol on the 6th of last month. WP estimates that the cost of dispatching troops will reach $480 million if they stay until mid-March as planned.
The cost of installing and removing the steel fence that wrapped up downtown Washington around the inauguration ceremony was also insignificant. It recently cost 64 million dollars (about 71.9 billion won) to replace only the fence around the White House. As Washington Mayor Muriel Bauzer argues, prolonging the installation of iron fences around the Capitol will incur significant additional costs.

The same goes for the state, which pays high security costs due to threats from far-right groups and militants. On the day of the inauguration ceremony and on the weekend before that, armed demonstrations were predicted not only in Washington, but also in state government offices and capitols. For this reason, the State National Guard and police personnel were also deployed at the state level. California, which mobilized more than 1,000 state defense rights from the 14th to the 21st of last month, said it spent 19 million dollars (about 21.3 billion won).
The WP reported that even after a recount demanded by former President Trump in November last year, the money spent in each state also amounted to millions of dollars. Election officials in the process of recounting were also faced with threats, but in Fulton County, Georgia, an additional $500,000 was spent protecting them.
Legal expenses for responding to lawsuits against the election results were also substantial. Pennsylvania, which was a fierce battle until the end, was particularly litigated.At the state level, it was necessary to use an external law firm’s lawyer for an hourly payment of 480 dollars (about 540,000 won), resulting in a resident tax of $15.3 million (about 1.7 billion won). . WP estimates that the total amount of money spent on election litigation costs in each state exceeds $2.21 million (about 2.5 billion won).

Recently, former President Trump has created a’Former President’s Office’ in Florida, using it as a window for foreign activities. However, it is known that WP has not yet revealed its position on this cost estimate.
The WP pointed out that the opportunity cost of President Trump and his supporters insisting on manipulating elections is also increasing.
“The cost of security is incredibly expensive, but just wasted money,” said Chris Loftis, director of public affairs at the Washington State Patrol. “It could have been used in other important areas, such as COVID-19 treatment and vaccine distribution.”
Washington = Correspondent Pilkyu Kim [email protected]