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Gossip Girl is coming back, but this time around, the show’s creators are suggesting that the people on display kinda feel bad for all the money they have. So, the HBO Max reboot of the 2007 series is billed as a different kind of animal. The original show very much felt like young adults doing rich adult-people things despite still technically being in high school. But this time, the uncanny valley-like gap between how the real world works for most people and the show’s canon will be a bit smaller. Namely, the rich kids that the show centers around will take a different kind of transportation around New York. But, you know, definitely not the MTA.

Variety published a feature on the upcoming reboot on Monday, and the piece makes it clear that we won’t see the same celebration of the young and hyper-wealthy that the original was this time around. The apparent vibe is that being wealthy is not all it’s cracked up to be, and the revival intends to “avoid glorifying its characters’ wealth and exorbitant lifestyles in the 2021 version of the show.”

Here’s a key excerpt from the Variety feature:

“These kids wrestle with their privilege in a way that I think the original didn’t,” says “Gossip Girl” showrunner Josh Safran. “In light of [Black Lives Matter], in light of a lot of things, even going back to Occupy Wall Street, things have shifted.”

Unlike Chuck Bass, the “Gossip Girl” crew of 2021 is aware of income inequality. They take Ubers, not limos. They’re (mostly) not rude to service workers. And Zoya Lott, played by Whitney Peak — the new iteration of the grounded, middle class, fish-out-of-water Dan Humphrey — is a scholarship student at the upscale Constance Billard school, the implications of which will be explored in nearly every episode.

“I think the first [‘Gossip Girl’] showed a little bit of wealth porn or privilege porn, like, ‘Look at these cars, or here’s a montage of the best plated food you’ve ever seen,’” says Safran.

For some, of course, the “privilege porn” of Gossip Girl was entirely the point. And there are plenty of fans of the soapy shows in that vein who are unconcerned about its apparent lack of social critique. But the shift also does reflect the era that the show will resurface in, one that is seemingly much more aware of wealth disparity and inequality because, well, that’s only growing larger and more pronounced.

The real question is, perhaps, whether the show can still be entertaining in this new light, or if the plotlines of wealthy people grappling with their wealth are actually interesting. For that, well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what those Uber rides look like on HBO Max.

(Via Variety)

When the Phoenix Suns drafted Deandre Ayton with the first overall selection in 2018 — a draft class that looks to be one of the best in recent memory — he entered an organization without much of anything defined. There was Devin Booker, who was steadily establishing himself as one of the league’s best young scorers but had questions to that point about his impact beyond putting points on the board. Beyond him, there wasn’t much more to say about Phoenix when Ayton (and Mikal Bridges) arrived.

The Suns’ track record of draft picks prior to 2018 was, well, rather awful thanks to a combination of bad picks and bad development, compounded by constant coaching turnover. It was not the ideal situation for a player that had immense talent but was in need of structure. Ayton had a strong rookie year, averaging 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game, but was overshadowed by the performances of Luka Doncic and Trae Young picked behind him. His offensive ability was never in question, but despite having the physical tools, his defense left plenty to be desired and on a team with little in the way of continuity — Ayton’s 71 games played was the third most on the team behind Bridges and Jackson — his flaws were compounded and more noticeable.

His sophomore season got off to an even worse start as he got popped for a 25-game suspension for testing positive for an illegal substance, putting he and the Suns behind the 8-ball in Monty Williams’ first season. That time to sit proved to be an opportunity for Ayton, however, as he could watch and learn as Williams tried to build a culture of accountability from the ground up. When he made his return to the floor, he showed the physical dominance inside that made the Suns take him first overall, averaging 18.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game as the second option to Booker, along with 1.5 blocks (up from 0.9 as a rookie) as he steadily began finding his comfort in a structured defense.

This season, Ayton found himself as the clear third option for the Suns, with Chris Paul joining the backcourt alongside Booker to form one of the league’s best units. As such, his regular season averages dipped to 14.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, but his efficiency took a massive leap as he embraced his newfound role, posting a 65.3 true shooting percentage, by far the best of his young career. That is thanks in large part to taking more than half (53 percent) of his attempts in the restricted area this season, feasting on lobs and pocket passes as a roll man as well as becoming one of the league’s best putback men, cleaning up on the offensive glass as defenses were forced to bend toward his star guards.

Ayton is an excellent screener with his massive frame, and his partnership in the pick-and-roll game with Paul and Booker, both of whom are incredibly patient as the ball-handler to draw the defense out and assess the situation, has grown to be as good as there is in the NBA. Ayton is a master of the delayed or wide roll, sticking with his screen to create maximum space, letting Paul snake the screen coming back across the court, and then Ayton swings wide to dart in behind the defense once the big has committed to stepping up to Paul and the guard is in chase to get back to his man.

On defense, the Suns center is leaps and bounds from where he was as a rookie, finally showing the fluidity in movement that he’s always had offensively on the defensive end, thanks mostly to being comfortable in his role and understanding his coverages and what he’s supposed to do.

When Ayton was coming out of college, one of the things that was so frustrating about his defense was that he looked to be constantly having to think through his actions, which slowed him down compared to the instinctual play he displayed on offense, where his confidence in his footwork was so evident. Now, just look at the way he mirrors Giannis Antetokounmpo, stoning him on a drive and on his counter to force a kickout.

Those skills developed over the past three seasons have been put to the test during the Suns’ postseason run, and through 11 games, Ayton has passed with flying colors. Ayton has faced formidable foes in the Lakers and Nuggets, who both boast tremendous frontcourt talent, and the Suns big man was particularly impressive in holding up against league MVP Nikola Jokic in the sweep of Denver.

Ayton’s patience on both ends of the floor is notable. On offense, he understands the timing needed in the pick-and-roll to allow Paul to draw two defenders before lobbing it up, once again showing off the lethal nature of his wide roll, letting Paul slither toward the baseline before tossing it up to the hard-charging Ayton, with no chance for a recovery from the weakside or Jokic sinking back.

The recognition of when to play it slow and when to go quick is one of his most impressive traits. See here against the Lakers, as Gasol jumps immediately over to Paul and Ayton sees that LeBron tried to fight over the screen. Putting him on his back hip, he darts straight to the rim for the wide open lob.

When teams adjust to that by hedging high on Paul to try and trap him before he gets downhill to put them in conflict, Ayton is quick to roll into space at the top of the key, with the hands and athleticism to catch the ball 15 feet from the hoop and take it to the rim against late closing help.

He is a near perfect foil on offense for his star backcourt, taking full advantage of his time in Chris Paul’s Pick-and-Roll Camp to put defenses in constant conflict. Because Ayton isn’t just a lob threat but is capable of catching the ball high up the floor and driving to the rim off the bounce — with a terrific in between game outside the restricted area where he shoots 51.7 percent from 3 to 10 feet from the rim, per Basketball-Reference — he creates space for Paul and Booker with his roll gravity, allowing them to get to their preferred spots on the right and left elbow, respectively, where they are lethal as pull-up shooters.

Defensively, he held up against Jokic as well as anyone has all season, showing his strength in the post to keep Jokic from getting deep position for easy buckets and forcing him to live outside the restricted area. In the Western Conference Finals, Ayton is facing a vastly different test against a Clippers team that has found its stride this postseason by going small. In Game 1, it took some time for Ayton to get involved offensively, a product of Paul’s absence in COVID-19 protocols as he didn’t have a pick-and-roll partner capable of feeding him against shorter defenders.

It was also a testament to Ayton’s willingness to continue playing within the Suns system, as he wasn’t demanding post-ups against small lineups and, eventually, the Suns started to crack the code of L.A.’s defense. The Clippers threw various looks at Ayton, from small ball to Ivica Zubac to DeMarcus Cousins, and the Suns offense was able to adapt to each over time, with Ayton seeking out the pockets of space to attack the rim, finishing with 20 points and nine rebounds on 10-of-14 shooting, feasting at the rim over and over again.

His versatility is often overlooked because so many of his finishes look the same, throwing down a thunderous dunk over the helpless opposition, but Ayton is willing to venture all over the court to create space for others and find space for himself to operate. Sometimes that’s at the free throw line to break a zone, other times it’s lurking in the dunkers spot daring his defender to step up in help, and most often it’s barreling down the lane opposite or trailing the ball-handler, ever ready for a pass high or low.

On defense, he’s just become solid, even if not always spectacular, which is all the Suns really need. They deploy some terrific wing and perimeter defenders, and Ayton has become a steady pick-and-roll defender, moving his feet much better to cut off drives and using his length to quickly sink back to try and break up lobs. Against the Clippers’ small-ball, he uses his length to his advantage, knowing he can give a solid contest without needing to step too high and give up drives to the rim. He’s not an elite, super-switchable defender, but he’s capable in space and also good at avoiding disaster in the form of fouls.

Ayton has yet to commit more than four fouls in a game this postseason, an impressive feat given the competition he’s faced, as he’s become a master of verticality and has accepted the hard truth for bouncy, long defenders that you can’t block everything and oftentimes your best defense is simply being in the way. In the NBA, that often means guys score anyway, but he is as good as there is in the NBA at being tall and using his massive size as a deterrent and obstacle for opposing players to have to contort to score around.

For many teams, defining everyone’s roles — much less getting everyone to buy into those roles — is a major stumbling block. The Suns have done this as well as any lineup in the NBA, with seemingly every player understanding what they’re asked to do and being willing to do that, recognizing how it helps the team. There are a number of great examples of that, like Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Dario Saric, and Cam Payne, but Ayton as a recent No. 1 overall pick might be the most impressive of them all. He has the ability to dominate but is happy to do so in his defined space, which can be incredibly difficult for a young player to embrace. Having that structure can feel limiting, but it also can maximize your talents.

That’s the case with Ayton, who is flourishing in his role and the Suns are soaring because of it.

Final Fantasy is one of the most beloved video franchises ever created. Every single game in the series has its fans, defenders, and critics, but if there is one game that is a little bit of a black sheep in the series it might be Final Fantasy IX.

It’s a great game, and many Final Fantasy purists believe it is the best in the entire franchise, but it’s one of the least played. It came out on the PlayStation 1 in June 2000, but was overshadowed by the recently-launched PlayStation 2. Nobody wanted to go back and play a huge RPG on previous hardware. It was also, for some, a step “backward” compared to the sci-fi direction that FF VII and VIII had taken the franchise in as well.

In more recent years, however, a new appreciation has been growing for IX. Everything about it has aged incredibly well, especially the art style, and it has some of the most beloved characters of any Final Fantasy. Even the story, while not quite as convoluted as previous titles, is more appreciated for how grounded it is. It’s a great RPG and one that any fan of the genre should play. It’s also, it turns out, the perfect game to make an animated show about.

Reported by Kidscreen, Final Fantasy is going to be receiving an animated show that is currently being co-developed by Square Enix and Cyber Group Studios. It will be pitched to broadcasters in the coming months from the angle of a love story for fans of Final Fantasy IX, but also as an entry point into the franchise for anyone that hasn’t played a Final Fantasy before.

“The games have a strong co-viewing potential. For those who do know Final Fantasy IX , this will be an [introduction],” he says. “And for the many who don’t, this will immerse them in a universe they’ll love.”

This is a great idea for a variety of reasons, as Final Fantasy IX is one of the best entry points into the franchise. The only reason it isn’t suggested to more people is because the game has a lot of fun callbacks to previous titles that may fly over the heads of new players. Even so, with a grounded story, amazing characters, and a beloved art style it is perfect for an animated show to get people into the Final Fantasy universe. Hopefully we’ll learn more about it and it will find a home somewhere soon.

Carl Nassib of the Las Vegas Raiders has done something that many have been waiting for in one of America’s Big Four sports leagues. The Raiders defensive end released a video on Monday on his Instagram officially coming out as gay for Pride month, becoming the first active NFL player to do so in league history.

Nassib posted a written statement along with the video that credits his family for embracing him, as well as his teammates and coaches with the Raiders for their support. As he says in the video, he hopes that one day the coming out process won’t be such a big deal and that future athletes won’t feel uncomfortable with being their full, true selves publicly, which played a big role in his decision to make such an announcement. Nassib says he thinks representation is incredibly important, and by making this announcement he will be inspiring to so many.

He also wants to raise awareness for the Trevor Project which works in suicide prevention for the LGBTQ community, where young LGBTQ youth are five times as likely to commit suicide. It’s a tremendous cause and kudos to Nassib for using his platform to not just provide representation for a community that has never seen an active gay NFL player, but to also boost a program that does some really important work — and make a $100,000 donation himself.

While Nassib is the first active gay player on an NFL roster, it should be noted that Michael Sam became the first gay player to be drafted back in 2014 by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round, although he did not make the roster. Hopefully this is just another step towards more players being comfortable making such announcements and, as Nassib said, this not becoming as significant a news story. It also pushes Nassib’s legendary Hard Knocks financial advisor segment from when he was with the Browns down to the second most important Nassib video of all time.

Families are beginning to receive direct monthly payments from the IRS, and some people seem to be confused about the what and the why of it. Heres’ a brief explainer:

As part of the American Rescue Plan Act (passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in March), two things changed about the Child Tax Credit that families receive as part of their normal taxes. 1) The amount per child was increased, and 2) The distribution of those funds was changed for the year 2021.

Last year, the tax credit was $2,000 per child up to age 16, and the money was included in the calculation of a parent’s tax return at tax time. (A tax credit is different than a tax deduction, just to be clear. It’s basically a direct refund. A $2,000 tax credit is $2,000 handed back to you.)

This year, that tax credit amount was increased to $3,000 per child ages 6 to 17, and $3,600 per child under age 6. In addition to that increase, half of the tax credit amount will be paid out in monthly installments for the rest of 2021. The other half will be included in a person’s tax return next spring, as usual.

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The full increase amount impacts couples who earn up to $150,000 per year, or single parents making up to $112,500.

If you are a parent, you don’t have to do anything to start receiving these payments as long as you filed taxes in 2019 or 2020. The money will come as a direct deposit or a check, depending on how you usually receive your tax return. If you didn’t make enough income to file taxes those years, you have to sign up for the credit here.

President Biden explained briefly how it works on Facebook, but judging by the comments, the basic idea still isn’t clear to many people. Some seem to have been unaware that parents always get tax credits for having children, and others believe that the extra funds are a free government handout instead of a financial hand-up that it’s intended to be.

The COVID-19 pandemic took a particularly intense toll on parents, both logistically and financially—the extra funds for the tax credit increase come from the America Rescue Plan and are designed to strengthen the economy by putting more money back into the hands of working American families.

The Child Tax Credit changes in the American Rescue Plan only apply to the year 2021, but President Biden wants to extend this benefit beyond this year with the American Families Plan. Analysts have already called it a game-changer for child poverty. As The Atlantic reported:

“Despite the program not being targeted only toward low-income kids, our colleagues at Columbia University estimated that a child tax credit comparable to Biden’s would cut child poverty by 45 percent. It would cut poverty among Black children by 52 percent and among Native American children by more than 60 percent.”

Governments providing financial relief to citizens with children is nothing new. At least 10 wealthy nations provide universal child benefits to assist with the cost of child-rearing, either as a matter of course or as an incentive to counteract dwindling birth rates.

The White House website’s information page about the Child Tax Credit for this year has some specific scenarios for families of various sizes and incomes to show how it works. But here’s one real-world scenario:

My husband and I have two kids within the age range for the tax credit, and we make under the $150,000/yr income threshold. So here’s the comparison between last year’s tax credits and this year’s for our family.

In 2020:

12 y.o. = $2,000

16 y.o. = $2,000

$4,000 total tax credits.

All $4,000 given at tax time.

In 2021:

12 y.o. = $3,000

16 y.o. = $3,000

$6,000 total tax credits.

Half ($3,000) will be distributed as $500 monthly payments from July through December of this year.

The remaining $3,000 will be given at tax time.

The one thing we have to be aware of is that while our family is receiving more money overall for 2021 ($6,000 vs. $4,000), we will see $1,000 less of a credit on our taxes than we saw last year come tax time, because of the distribution of half of the credits ahead of time. So more money in our pockets now, which is great. But we also need to make sure we’re prepared for $1,000 less than we might have been anticipating on our tax return because we will have already received $3,000 in the form of the monthly payments.

For millions of families who have found themselves struggling due to job loss, furloughs, business shutdowns, childcare woes, and more, these increased child tax credits and advance payments will ease some of that economic hardship.

For more info go to www.whitehouse.gov/

The Philadelphia 76ers have been bounced from the playoffs earlier than expected once again, and this year’s exit against the Atlanta Hawks seems to set the table for a wild offseason in Philly. The Sixers didn’t just lose, but they did so in dramatic fashion on multiple occasions, most notably blowing an 18-point lead in Game 4 and then a 26-point lead in Game 5. After taking an early fourth quarter lead in Game 7, they once again saw their offense stall out in crucial moments late.

The play that stuck out to many, including Joel Embiid who called it “the turning point,” was Ben Simmons passing up an open dunk to tie the game, choosing instead to drop it off to Matisse Thybulle who got fouled and split the free throws. The Sixers would never reclaim the lead, eventually losing 103-96, and Simmons became the lead topic of conversation after the game.

Simmons, to his credit, answered all the questions about his offensive struggles, but his continued push back on the idea he needs to be more of a scorer, having not taken a field goal attempt in the last four fourth quarters of the series, points to the issues the Sixers have with how they are currently constructed. Simmons is their point guard, and it’s nearly impossible to run a coherent offense late in games when your point guard isn’t a threat to try and score. The hand-wringing over Simmons not shooting threes is overblown (as it has been with Giannis Antetokounmpo), but more concerning is his lack of desire to try and get downhill to the basket — in part due to his woeful free throw shooting.

Whether the Sixers should trade Simmons has become the lead topic for every sports show, and while that may seem dramatic, it’s clear that as constructed things aren’t working. Others are insistent that the Simmons-Embiid pairing can work out if they add another lead ball-handler for situations like they ran into against the Hawks, but a recent piece from Yaron Weitzman of Fox Sports points to the problem with that assessment. The Sixers had that in Jimmy Butler, but let him walk in a head-scratching decision in 2019. Apparently, Simmons’ frustration with being pushed off the ball in the 2019 Playoffs played a role in the decision not to push harder to re-sign Butler.

According to league sources, Simmons’ frustration at being relegated to off-ball duty during the team’s 2019 second-round loss to the Raptors contributed to the front office’s decision to not re-sign Jimmy Butler. Brown had handed Butler the keys to the offense, and management was worried how Simmons would handle having Butler around and monopolizing crunch-time playmaking duties for multiple years.

If true, and Weitzman is incredibly plugged in with the Sixers so there’s little reason to question that it played a part, then it might simply be time for a change for the sake of everyone. It’s clear the Sixers need someone capable of initiating and creating not just for the team but for themselves in those situations, and Simmons isn’t willing to be the shot-taker. If he’s also not willing to take an off-ball role, then it’s simply not a tenable situation. What makes this even more interesting is a lot of the popular trade destinations for Simmons would likely involve him needing to take more of an off-ball role offensively at times — particularly Portland, where a CJ McCollum for Simmons (with other players and draft picks involved possibly) has become a popular swap that seems to benefit both parties.

Weitzman’s piece details the good and bad of Simmons, as well as how his defiant nature is at times his best attribute and in others his worst enemy. In this case, it seems like the latter as he’s insistent his way of playing can work and should work with him on the ball, while the results indicate that it doesn’t.

Cyberpunk 2077 is back in the PlayStation store after a long drought. The game initially launched as a PS4 and Xbox One title, but the title was such a buggy broken mess at launch that Sony pulled the game from its store entirely because they felt it was harming their reputation amid a flood of cries for refunds. Cyberpunk’s developers, CD Projekt Red, promised to fix the game and help it reach the standards required of them to release a game on PlayStation consoles.

Ever since, CD Projekt Red developers have been releasing fixes for the game. They’re currently on patch 1.23 and the game is definitely in a more stable place than it once was. Stable enough to where Sony has allowed the game to re-appear in the PlayStation store once again, but they delivered that news on Monday with a warning. Anyone that has the base PlayStation 4 may want to consider upgrading to a PS4 Pro or PlayStation 5 before giving Cyberpunk 2077 a try again.

In one sense, it’s good for developers of Cyberpunk that they’re finally able to re-release the game to PlayStation. However, the major complaint of the original Cyberpunk was exactly the issue Sony is warning buyers about. The most notorious glitches PlayStation owners saw usually occurred on the base PS4. The Pro was better, although not by much, and the best experience was easily the PS5. So it sounds like the experience is going to be pretty similar even if some of the game breaking glitches have finally been removed.

It’s possible that this is just a game that is never going to run well on the base PS4. That happens sometimes. Control, a Game of the Year contender, was notoriously difficult to run on a base PS4. However, considering Cyberpunk‘s history and why Sony removed it from the PlayStation store in the first place, it’s odd that they would allow it to go back on the store with this kind of warning.

At this point, anyone that does want to play Cyberpunk with a non-buggy experience should just look into a next-gen console. To CD Projekt’s credit, the developers have been doing their best to fix the game, but a hack that occurred back in February has made fixing the game a difficult experience. We have no idea when the game will be a truly enjoyable experience on current generation hardware, but if Sony is throwing their hands up and saying it’s good enough to sell with a warning then that is a pretty good sign that they aren’t expecting those fixes anytime soon.

It’s been over two years since Game of Thrones ended, but no interview with Emilia Clarke has been completed without a question about the widely-disliked final season. The fan reaction to the eighth season, and the series finale in particular, came up during her conversation with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“I get why people are pissed,” Clarke said. “I totally get it. But, me being the actor, you can’t do justice to the character that you poured your blood, sweat, and tears into for a decade without getting on the same page. So like, I’m not just going to be there being like, ‘Fine, I’ll do the scene, whatever. I’m so pissed.’ You have to turn up.”

There are many valid complaints about the final season, but the quality of the acting is not one of them — Clarke, Lena Headey, and Peter Dinklage, in particular, were phenomenal. What makes their performances all the more impressive is how you get the feeling that, based on Clarke’s comments, she could sense that the scripts weren’t up to the level of excellence that she (and the show’s viewers) were accustomed to.

Later, Clarke was asked if she had a suspicion that “The Iron Throne” might not join The Sopranos and M*A*S*H among the greatest TV finales of all-time. “Well, the first instinct when you read the scripts is you just get that gut-punch of like, ‘Whoa, okay!’ You’re thinking about… your first reaction is that. It’s ‘OK.’ And then you start to go, ‘Oh. Maybe people are going to … mmm, yeah. I wonder.’ You don’t know, but you do wonder.”

You can watch the interview below.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: Special Episode (HBO series on HBO Max) — The one-year anniversary of Joseph James DeAngelo’s guilty plea as the Golden State Killer fast approaches. So, HBO’s revisiting the dogged investigating efforts of true-crime blogger Michelle McNamara after the revolutionary docuseries of 2020. Original series director Liz Garbus will be back to produce alongside Patton Oswalt (McNamara’s husband at the time of her death) and true-crime writers Paul Haynes and Billy Jensen (who helped piece together McNamara’s research into the book) for a special episode, which contains revelations about another case that informed McNamara’s true-crime obsession. That would be the 1984 death of Kathleen Lombardo in Oak Park, Illinois. The case sparked McNamara’s initial interest (at age 14) in investigating murders; Lombardo’s murder remains unsolved to this day, and the episode highlights how important citizen sleuths are while continuing to pursue the truth.

The Republic Of Sarah (CW, 9:00pm) — This show follows the ending of tranquility of Greylock, N.H., after a stash of valuable coltan leads to new overlords, and a rebellious teacher (Sarah Cooper) steps in to halt the madness. Soon enough, there’s the prospect of Greylock becoming a sovereign nation, which will present problems of its own. This week, Sarah controversially invites Lydon Industries and Danny back to the table.

All American (CW, 8:00pm) — Spender must get on the same page with Frausto at the behest of Billy while Asher and Jordan head down an unexpected path.

In Treatment (HBO, 9:00 & 9:30pm) — Brooke’s unique therapy method challenges Laila, who’s also feeling outside influences weighing on her psyche. Elsewhere, Brooke prepares for an unpleasant visit, and Brooke’s past trauma rises up with complications.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Andrew Garfield, Lorde

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Scarlett Johansson, Questlove, Gucci Mane Ft. Pooh Shiesty

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Salma Hayek, Jacqueline Novak, Kristina Schiano

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Helen Hunt, Black Pumas

Before Donald Trump took office, Independence Day festivities cost the federal government roughly $6.5 million a year. By 2019, the cost was all the way up to $13 million, and Trump managed to top that number in 2020 during the middle of a pandemic. According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, which audits federal spending, Trump’s Fourth of July events cost $14,573,608 and one of the most expensive items was his ill-advised visit to Mount Rushmore, which cost nearly $4 million by itself.

Despite the coronavirus still being a persistent threat and the availability of vaccines still months away, Trump stopped by Mount Rushmore where he used the national monument to criticize the removal of racist statues. Following the Black Lives Matter protest in the wake of George Floyd being murdered by Michigan police officer Derek Chauvin, there was a renewed call to remove monuments to the Confederacy and pro-slavery historical figures. Republicans pushed back at the notion, and Trump was more than happy to lean into conservative talking point with an election ahead. Via Newsweek:

“I am here as your president to proclaim before the country, and before the world, this monument will never be desecrated,” he said in a speech.

“These heroes will never be defaced. Their legacy will never ever be destroyed, their achievements will never be forgotten, and Mount Rushmore will stand forever. As an eternal tribute to our forefathers and to our freedom,” he said.

However, Trump’s expensive Mount Rushmore event on the taxpayer’s dime did not earn him a second term. Instead, he lost to Joe Biden and was roundly mocked on social media when, after the election, Ivanka Trump posted a photo from the event that suggested her father’s face would be a fitting addition to the historic sculpture.

(Via Newsweek)