I think the better question is what is it with politicians and lavish travel.....on our tax money.
You elect them in this system, you are electing a little king. No one within their sphere of influence can do anything but go along with whatever they want. No one can say “no” without losing their own lucrative position.
And they have control of the elections, not vice versa. It is why America is a nation run by sociopaths and downright psychopaths. It is a system tailor-made for them.
It is also why I say the Founding Fathers should have just gone fishing and not tried so hard, human nature always wins out in the end.