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 ...
I don’t think ANY yacht that bis is registered in the US....and am pretty sure that you have to fly the flag of the country you are visiting.....at least on Cruise ships.
WOW!!!! I never heard of him before!! He’s IMPRESSIVE!!
WOW!!!! I never heard of him before!! He’s IMPRESSIVE!!
geesh....what has happened here??
Come on, MM......you are falling into the MEDIA’S TRAP!
Yes, Carter sold the USS Sequoia in 1977.
The reason why billionaires love these ocean going yachts is so they can do illegal things in open water, outside of nationalized waters.
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Illegal things? Like what? Any evidence?
Goldie and Kurt are favorite movies in the Kit household.
Captain Ron is absolutely fun.
Have they ever worked up so much as a mild irritation that a quarter of a million UK girls have been raped by muslims?
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Excellent observation! Same caliber of trashy people we see on CNN and the other American propaganda news media.
There is more freedom on international waters than there is inside territorial waters.
For the USA, you do not have to be an Indian to run legal gambling. Probably can legally ingest substances which may be illegal in some countries. Can pay wages lower than minimum wage in territorial waters. Taxes are going to be lower in some ways.
However, with satellites and constant tracking and imaging, freedom is getting harder and harder to come by. The oceans are getting crowded in places where they used to be barren of ships.
True, but you don’t know where he got his seed money....
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We’re waiting for you to tell us!
US ambassadors have traditionally been selected at least in part because they were wealthy enough to support such “diplomatic outreach” without stretching the public purse.
BETCHA HE HAD THAT MONEY BEFORE HE WAS AN AMBASSADOR
Murder somebody by throwing them over.
BETCHA HE HAD THAT MONEY BEFORE HE WAS AN AMBASSADOR
You don’t have to bet … or, YELL!!
He DID!!
One of the world’s richest.
No wonder he didn’t like boats and water.
Does anyone recall Jimmy Carter’s fishing photo op when he was attacked by a rabbit? Beat that bunny down with his paddle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNN1znCee6w
Do you recall when John F’n Kerry strolled into a shop and asked, “Can I get me a huntin’ license here?”
Barack Hussein Obama did a photo op at Camp David firing a shotgun.
Half white, half Kenyan. Not an American citizen.
Thanks for the tip
Sure. Getting rid of a body in mid-ocean is easier than getting rid of it in a harbor, or on land.
But it is still murder.
Russel was hilarious in this.
Here’s one scene when he had his eye patch on the wrong side. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X4ZJ5sQO_c
Fun movie. Goldie wasn’t there, but Kurt ruled.
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