Posted on 08/31/2026 2:27:07 PM PDT by DFG
Theodore Roosevelt was famous for gunboat diplomacy.
But Donald Trump's ambassador to Italy has found a rather more luxurious way to win friends: love boat diplomacy.
Billionaire entertainment mogul Tilman Fertitta, 69, is wooing foreign officials from the deck of his $450 million mega yacht, the Boardwalk, as he cruises around Italy on a two-and-a-half-month 'Coastal Diplomatic Tour.'
The 383ft vessel boasts two helipads, two swimming pools, four hot tubs, a fully equipped spa, scuba room, putting green and cinema, with business tycoons and sports personalities rubbing shoulders with government officials at lavish receptions.
Fertitta, the world's 312th-richest person according to Forbes, is also joined on board by his wife Lauren Ware Fertitta and their five-year-old daughter, Elle.
CNN, which toured the yacht, found deckhands polishing chrome railings and pillows being plumped before guests arrived, while Fertitta showed off the floating mansion's family kitchen and its stocked fridge.
The cruise comes at Fertitta's own expense - apart from security provided by the Italian government. He estimates the coastal tour will cost him about $1 million, with the voyage also serving as a celebration of America's 250th anniversary and a way to avoid renovations at his official residence in Rome.
But for some Italians, the billionaire's floating summer of excess is beginning to feel less like Roman Holiday and more like the last days of Rome.
Fertitta's extravagance has sparked protests and prompted questions about the cost to Italy. The Boardwalk was greeted by demonstrators when it docked in Venice last month, with chants of 'No space for billionaires' and 'Venice is not the United States.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.com ...
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Who’s furious?
I’m not furious. Are you furious>
Maybe a furry is furrious about it ...
I remember when Tony's cousin let him bring Furio back to the States after his visit to Italy.
Holy buckets of chum. That’s a good looking boat. Or ship.
If I was a multi-billionaire this is something I would entertain.
Sadly, I am not a multi-billionaire. But I can totally respect a yacht like this. Hundreds of thousands a year for staff, provisions and fuel.
Good billionaires tip heavy.
........and he runs some of the most well-known eateries in the US...........
But that’s why the billionaires like their ocean going yachts, so they do things that would normally result in an arrest if they did it on land.
Did you miss: “because he’s not doing anything technically wrong”?
My post was DISPARAGING the media.
The headlines the next day were: Trump Can't Swim.
That’s a good one
You’re Irish? (Irish American)
“Fury”???
By who, at who?
Talk about a “nothing burger”...
USS Sequoia (AG-23): Used by nine presidents
from Herbert Hoover to Jimmy Carter.
Jimmy Carter ordered the wooden yacht sold in 1977
to set a cost-cutting example.
Nope. English with a touch of German.
The scourge of cat juggling.
He’s personally paying for it. Any goodwill or business deals that come to the US from it cost us nothing.
Jimmy Carter. Wear a sweater. I lived through his years. Communists will never change.
Gas rationing. Does anyone even remember what he did to our country by kneeling before OPEC? Communists have been destroying American since the aboloshment of the HUAC.
It's still illegal to overthrow the government of the United States. Now? Communists are being voted into office for the express purpose of overthrowing the government.
yup.
Gas lines with
Even numbered tag #’s on even numbered dates;
Odd numbered tag #’s on odd numbered dates.
“Even numbered tag #’s on even numbered dates;
Odd numbered tag #’s on odd numbered dates.”
Good. You remember it too. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
Communists and globalists seek control until they go out feet first.
He’s literally saving US taxpayers money.
He’s doing this instead of
redecorating the American embassy in Italy.
I’m sure I read that in the article that was posted above.
He’s literally saving US taxpayers money.
He’s doing this instead of
redecorating the American embassy in Italy.
I’m sure I read that in the article that was posted above.
He’s literally saving US taxpayers money.
He’s doing this instead of
redecorating the American embassy in Italy.
I’m sure I read that in the article that was posted above.
Oops!
Sorry for the triple post.
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