WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — When President-elect Donald J. Trump
rang in the new year this weekend, he did it in Gatsby-like opulence,
joined by the actor Sylvester Stallone, the gossip page fixture Fabio,
and a crowd of wealthy developers reveling under the swaying palm trees
at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
President
George W. Bush had his ranch in Crawford, Tex. His father had his
compound in Kennebunkport, Me. President Obama has taken frequent
vacations in Hawaii, staying at a private home.
But
Mr. Trump’s 118-room private club, where he has spent the last two
weeks away from his home in New York, is likely to eclipse them all as
the 45th president’s winter White House. And that was always the
intention of Marjorie Meriweather Post, the cereal heiress and the
property’s original owner, who left Mar-a-Lago to the federal government
when she died in 1973, hoping it would serve as a home for presidents.
But
the government had no interest in her plan, and Mr. Trump later bought
the property for less than $10 million, turning it into a club where
membership costs six figures.
Mr.
Trump’s arrival was greeted with sneers by the Palm Beach elite, and he
opened up Mar-a-Lago’s membership to Jews and African-Americans, who
had been excluded from other members-only establishments. He was also
the first club owner on the island to admit an openly gay couple.
Since
Mr. Trump’s victory in November, Mar-a-Lago has been stuffed with
guests attracted by an amenity unique to this club: the chance to rub
shoulders with the next president.
“It’s
like going to Disneyland and knowing Mickey Mouse will be there all day
long,” said Jeff Greene, a developer and unsuccessful Democratic
candidate for the Senate from Florida in 2010, who is a Mar-a-Lago
member and was a Hillary Clinton supporter.
Instead
of hosting major corporate executives and potential Cabinet secretaries
for interviews inside a boxy transition office at Trump Tower in New
York, Mr. Trump has been seated at an ornately designed couch,
upholstered in pale fabric laced with gold, beneath a chandelier hanging
from the ceiling, a scene resembling a mansion in “Sunset Boulevard” or
“Citizen Kane,” two of Mr. Trump’s favorite movies.
At
night, the couches are moved out and tables are added to accommodate
the evening cocktail crowd, among whom Mr. Trump moves from one table to
the next, the most powerful greeter in the world.
At
the annual New Year’s Eve party on Saturday night, a gold-laced white
menu included “Mr. Trump’s wedge salad,” a wild mushroom and Swiss chard
ravioli, and a “breakfast buffet.” Those in attendance drifted in under
a yellow-and-white striped awning, the men dressed in tuxedos, the
women in ball gowns, many with their hair swept high.
Guests
stepped onto a red carpet as they entered the club, and wandered over
to a poolside cocktail party. Mr. Trump later delivered remarks,
according to a guest, who said he thanked his family and the club
members for their support over the years.
Laura
Ingraham and Howie Carr, conservative radio hosts who were supportive
of Mr. Trump, roamed the crowd, with Mr. Carr posting on Twitter that
his daughter asked Mr. Trump if she could be an intern in the White
House. Mr. Trump’s two adult sons, Eric and Don Jr., posed for
photographs. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski from MSNBC’s “Morning
Joe” were also there.
Like
most aspects of Mr. Trump’s business interests, the party generated
controversy as tickets to it were made available to club members and
guests for a little more than $500. Mr. Trump’s aides rejected the
questions.
Mr.
Trump was to return to New York on Sunday afternoon. But the club will
remain an escape for him. His contentious Twitter posts belie his
relative calm when he is at Mar-a-Lago compared with when he is isolated
inside Trump Tower. Mr. Trump’s combative public persona — often on
display during his campaign — mostly dissolves behind the carved-stone
walls of his castle.
“Mar-a-Lago
is an environment he can control,” said the historian Douglas Brinkley,
who last week attended a Mar-a-Lago lunch with a longtime club member,
Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media. “I watched him hold
court — he was so comfortable in his own skin, and so relaxed.”
Mr.
Ruddy, who has hosted Ms. Ingraham and Mr. Carr and who has introduced
Mr. Trump to a range of news media figures, politicians and donors,
described the president-elect as “seeking the pre-election Donald Trump:
totally at ease, very positive, very gregarious.”
Mr. Trump appears to feed off contact with the people at the club.
Over
the Thanksgiving holiday, he queried dinner guests about whether he
should appoint Rudolph W. Giuliani or Mitt Romney as his secretary of
state (he ended up picking neither).
During
this trip, he has heaped praise on his ultimate choice for the job, Rex
Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobile (Mr. Trump has called him “Mr.
Exxon.”). He talks about the work he has done to find a solution for the
problems at the Department of Veteran Affairs, which included a recent
meeting with a number of executives at Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Trump told a New
York Times reporter that he intended to make Brian Burns, the
businessman son of a confidante of Joseph P. Kennedy, the ambassador to
Ireland.
Isaac
Perlmutter, the reclusive head of Marvel Entertainment, is a Mar-a-Lago
member who helped Mr. Trump put that meeting together. Mr. Trump has
also held sit-downs with Robert K. Kraft, the owner of the New England
Patriots and a club member, and hosted prominent figures like Carlos
Slim, the billionaire who is Mexico’s richest man.
Mr.
Trump; his wife, Melania; and their 10-year-old son, Barron, inhabit a
residential area of the club.
His adult children and their families
usually stay in nearby cabanas on the property. Mr. Trump frequently
dines on the patio, a central point of action, where at night, a singer
plays with a small band, sometimes belting out requests from Mr. Trump
and other guests (“My Way,” a song popularized by Frank Sinatra, was one
recent choice). A violinist sometimes moves among tables, plucking
tunes like the theme from “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Mr.
Trump has given the cadre of White House reporters who now cover him
some access to the club, but grudgingly so — he once again eluded the
reporters covering him on Saturday, slipping away without any warning to
play golf at another of his clubs nearby in Jupiter.
And
outside the confines of Mar-a-Lago, old grievances flare up. On the
golf course, Mr. Trump spotted Harry Hurt, a biographer who wrote
critically of Mr. Trump years ago, preparing to play a round with David
H. Koch, a billionaire conservative donor. Mr. Trump ordered club
officials to remove Mr. Hurt from the property, according to a Facebook
post by Mr. Hurt.
Over
the years, Mr. Trump has also been perpetually at loggerheads with Palm
Beach officials. He has filed lawsuits attempting to keep noisy planes
from flying over Mar-a-Lago, and there have been disputes over the
height of his oversize flagpole on the grounds.
With
its owner’s coming new job, the club has had some changes. Guests now
go through an elaborate security screen to gain access to the main
entrance. Secret Service agents are now sprinkled throughout the
property, at night blending into the shrubbery along the grounds.
Robin
Bernstein, a club member for nearly 25 years, said that some club
members might express frustration, but that most thought it was
important “that we keep Donald and his family safe.”
Attendees seem to
see a benefit so far in having the president-elect around, and expect it
will continue.
“The
loser in this game is Camp David,” said Mr. Brinkley, referring to the
longtime presidential retreat in Maryland. “Once you’re at Mar-a-Lago
and it’s so opulent and resort-friendly, the idea of suddenly inserting
your self into Camp David’s Maryland mountains environment seems
unlikely.”
No comments:
Post a Comment