Republican politicians and party operatives during the Trump years had a convenient excuse to questions about why they seemed to spend so much time and more importantly money hanging out at the now-former Trump International Hotel in the historic Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Ave in DC: That it was conveniently located (which we guess makes it a “meta-convenient” excuse).

So now that it’s a Waldorf-Astoria branded property, and that we already gave away this gist in the headline anyway, you will not be surprised to learn that a new report from the watchdogs at Citizens for Responsiblity and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has found that Republican spending of donor funds absolutely cratered since Donald sold off his figurative – and arguably literal – whorehouse.

CREW compared the five month period leading up to the midterms at the new Waldorf-Astoria in 2022 with the same period at the Trump International in 2018 and found that the Republican campaign expenditures reported to the FEC dropped by a staggering 99.97 percent, or $867,000 down to less than $2,000. Now obviously there would have been at least some hit to the spending if Trump had held on to the hotel. One can allow that Republicans are naturally going to spend less at a joint right across the street from a Republican White House than one across the street from a Democratic White House – no matter who owns the place – but not almost literally 100% less. It’s too bad that CREW didn’t try to nail down another window between when Trump left office and when it was first reported he was looking to sell in September 2021, but we understand if that would’ve been too hard to frame given the still ongoing COVID spikes that year. That’s inconvenient to us.