Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and outspoken
Donald Trump supporter, is considering a 2018 bid for California
governor, according to three Republicans familiar with his thinking. Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in
Facebook, has been discussing a prospective bid with a small circle of
advisers, including Rob Morrow, who has emerged as his political
consigliere.
Morrow has worked at Clarium Capital, the San Francisco-based investment management firm and hedge fund that Thiel started. Those who have been in touch with the 49-year-old
entrepreneur are skeptical that he’ll enter the race. He is a deeply
private figure, and California is unfriendly territory for a Republican –
particularly a pro-Trump one. The president-elect won just over 30
percent of the vote there. But they add that Thiel has conspicuously yet to rule out a bid and that those around him continue to discuss it.
Adding fuel to the speculation: Thiel raised eyebrows this week when he granted a rare interview
to the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd. In the interview, he outlined his
political worldview and explained his support for Trump.(At one point,
Thiel said, perhaps jokingly, that he’d be “fine” with California seceding.
“I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the
country. It would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign,” he added.) Neither Thiel nor a representative responded requests for comment.
Thiel, who delivered a primetime speech at last summer’s
Republican National Convention, isn’t entirely new to the political
scene. According to public filings, he has contributed over $8.5 million
to federal candidates and committees since 2000. He speaks frequently
with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the most powerful Republican
in California. Other Trump backers are exploring bids for political office,
too. Alan Cobb, who was a Trump campaign aide, is seen as a top
contender for the Kansas congressional seat that GOP Rep. Mike Pompeo
would vacate should he be confirmed as CIA director. Whether Thiel pulls the trigger or not, Republicans in the
Trump era are expecting a sizable number of business-minded political
outsiders to wage 2018 bids for office. They include Randy Boyd, a
wealthy Tennessee executive and minor league baseball team owner who is
expected to run for governor in the state.
“Republicans have had great success at both the state and
federal level in recent years electing candidates who had backgrounds in
business, but who were political outsiders,” said Phil Cox, a former
Republican Governors Association executive director. “With Trump's
victory, we're going to see even more non-traditional candidates, with
backgrounds in business, not politics, enter the political arena.” Thiel, who is worth an estimated $2.7 billion, would fill an
important need: The ability to self-fund. Waging a gubernatorial bid in
California, where campaigns are famously expensive, could cost over
$100 million. He isn’t the only billionaire who may run. Environmentalist
Tom Steyer, a prolific giver to Democratic causes, is also seen as a
possible contender. With Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown term-limited, several
high-profile Democrats including former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and state Treasurer John Chiang
have already launched campaigns.
One hurdle for Thiel might be his past support for Newsom.
In July 2015, according to California election records, he contributed
over $56,000 to Newsom’s 2018 campaign.
By Paul Rogers The powerful storms that soaked Northern California over the
past week did more than trigger power outages, mudslides and flash
floods. They sent roughly 350 billion gallons of water pouring into
California’s biggest reservoirs — boosting their storage to levels not
seen in years, forcing dam operators to release water to reduce flood
risks and all but ending the five-year drought across much of Northern
California, even though it remains in the south, experts said Monday.
“California is a dry state and probably always will be in
most years, but we certainly don’t have a statewide drought right now,”
said Jay Lund, a professor of engineering and director of the Center for
Watershed Sciences at UC Davis. “We have to be careful about crying wolf here,” he said.
“You have to maintain credibility with the public when there are
critically dry years, so you have to call it like it is when conditions
improve.” On Monday much of the state began drying out from the
weekend drenching that caused at least three fatalities and triggered
flooding in Morgan Hill, Sonoma County, Yosemite and parts of the
Sacramento Valley, even as forecasters said another storm system was
coming in Tuesday.
That new storm system should bring 1 to 2 inches of rain
around much of the Bay Area, and up to 6 inches in the Santa Cruz
Mountains and Big Sur, with more rain in the North Bay, tapering off
Wednesday. “It’s not going to be as heavy,” National Weather Service
forecaster Steve Anderson said. “But even though the amount of rainfall
will be less, the impact will still be there.”
Despite concerns that the weekend storm’s warmer temperatures would
significantly deplete the Sierra Nevada snowpack, it grew significantly.
Last Monday, it was 70 percent of historic average.
This Monday, it had
grown to a staggering 126 percent for this time of the year.
In fact, since Oct. 1, more
precipitation has fallen across the key watersheds of Northern
California — eight areas from Lake Tahoe to Mount Shasta that feed many
of the state’s largest reservoirs — so far this winter than any time since 1922, according to state totals.
In a typical year, that “Northern Sierra eight-station index” receives 50 inches of precipitation. As of Monday it was already at 40
inches — 199 percent of the historic average for this date — and
running slightly above 1982-83 and 1997-98, both of which were marked by
severe El Niño flooding. The rain and snow could shut off, as happened three years
ago in January, although the reservoirs now are so full in many areas
there wouldn’t be water shortages for several years. Officially, California’s drought won’t end until Gov. Jerry
Brown rescinds or revises the emergency drought declaration he signed in
January 2014.
Lund, of UC Davis, said that because other parts of the
state — particularly Santa Barbara and other parts of Southern
California — are still well short of rain and suffering from low
reservoir levels, Brown should issue an updated drought declaration that
reflects the regional differences.
That is one of the options he is considering, said Nancy
Vogel, a spokeswoman for the state Natural Resources Agency. But a
decision may not be made until the end of the winter snow and rain
season, she said. “It’s early and the precipitation patterns could dry up at any time,” she said. “We’ll see where we are in March or April.” Rain from Sunday’s storm fell in sheets at time, flooded
roads and storm drains, and toppled trees. It fell most forcefully in
the Big Sur area of Monterey County, dumping more than 12 1/2 inches
over a 72-hour period. More than 9 3/4 inches fell in the Lexington
Hills in Santa Clara County and more than 6 inches soaked areas of San
Mateo County. In Contra Costa County, 4 1/2 inches of rain fell atop Mount
Diablo, and 3 1/4 inches fell in Orinda. San Francisco and parts
of Oakland saw 2 1/2 inches of rain. Only 1.03 inches fell at Mineta San
Jose International Airport, but that still set a record for Jan. 8. More importantly, the recent storms have sent reservoirs swelling.
The 154 largest reservoirs tracked by the state Department
of Water Resources added 1.1 million acre feet of water from Jan. 1 to
Monday, boosting their capacity to 97 percent of historic average, said
Maury Roos, longtime state hydrologist. “It’s excellent news,” said Roos. “I don’t make the decision
on the official drought, but from the Bay Area north we are in good
shape for this time of the season.” Specifically, Loch Lomond, the main reservoir serving Santa
Cruz, filled to capacity. All seven reservoirs that serve the Marin
Municipal Water District were 100 percent full. Pardee Reservoir, the
main reservoir that provides water to 1.3 million people in Alameda and
Contra Costa County, spilled on Monday. Lexington Reservoir, near Los Gatos, has gone up 31 feet
since New Year’s Day, surging to 93 percent full from 42 percent full a
week ago. Perhaps most dramatic was San Luis Reservoir, California’s
fifth largest, located between Gilroy and Los Banos. Sitting at 10
percent full in August, it now is 66 percent full, having risen 134
feet. At current rates, it may fill to the top for the first time since
2011, said Roger George of Fresno, a professional guide who leads
fishing trips for striped bass there. “Back in August, it was scary. I was beginning to wonder if
we were going to have a die-off of the fish,” he said. “Now it looks
like an ocean.” Similarly, the state’s second-largest reservoir, Oroville in
Butte County, has risen 35 feet since New Year’s Day. It added 250,000
acre-feet of water over the weekend, enough for 1.3 million people’s
needs for a year. It now stands at 64 percent full, or 102 percent of
historic average. On Monday, officials at Yosemite National Park announced
they would reopen Yosemite Valley Tuesday morning. The park suffered
some damage when the Merced River jumped its banks, but the flood levels
were only two or three feet above flood stage, less than had been
earlier feared.
The storm unleashed mud and rock slides throughout the Santa
Cruz Mountains early Monday, halting traffic during the morning commute
on Highway 17. A slide just north of Scotts Valley shut down northbound
lanes and traffic was detoured onto the southbound side. In Gilroy, two people were rescued Sunday night from the
second story of their home after water surrounding the residence rose to
about four feet. The San Jose Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue
team had to use a boat to help the people out of the home, according to
Cal Fire spokeswoman Pam Temmermand. At least three people were killed in the weekend storm,
including 57-year-old Jarnail Singh, whom police said lost control of a
white cab he was driving and crashed into an estuary near the Oakland
International Airport on Sunday morning. An unidentified motorist also died in a crash on Interstate 880 in Fremont. A San Ramon woman died Saturday after a tree fell on her at a
golf course in San Ramon. Deborah McKeown, 56, was taking a walk when
high winds knocked over a tree that landed on her. McKeown, a freelance
writer for the Bay Area News Group who wrote under the pseudonym
Kathleen Ford, was taken to a hospital from the Canyon Lakes Golf Course
on Bollinger Canyon Way. Staff writers Patrick May, Rick Hurd and Eric Kurhi contributed to this report.
Rasmussen Reports- Most voters share the views of the president and the party coming to
power, but Republicans identify a lot more with Donald Trump than with
the GOP Congress.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that
53% of all Likely U.S. Voters identify with the GOP team: 37% feel
Trump's views are closest to their own when it comes to the major issues
facing the country, while another 16% feel most closely in sync with
the average Republican member of Congress. Thirty-seven percent (37%)
say the views of the average Democratic member of Congress are closest
to their own. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Among Republicans, however, 63% say that Trump’s views are closest to
their own when it comes to the major issues, while only 27% say that of
the views of the average Republican member of Congress. Among Democrats,
72% identify with the average Congress member from their party, while
just 16% think Trump's views are closest to theirs.
Just a month before Election Day, 51% of GOP voters still felt that their party's leaders didn't want Trump to be president, although that was down from 66% four months earlier.
(Want a free daily email update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 3-4, 2017 by
Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage
points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen
Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
More
than half of all voters feel comfortable with the prospect of one party
controlling both the Executive and Legislative branches of government, as Republicans will do when Trump enters the White House on January 20.
Among voters not affiliated with either major political party, 34% say
their views most closely match Trump’s, while 16% are more aligned with
the average GOP representative. Only 29% feel closer to the average
Democrat in Congress, but 20% of these voters are undecided.
The Republican team of Trump and Congress earn majority support in most
demographic categories, but the president-elect is the one voters are
most likely to agree with.
Women, middle-aged voters and blacks lean more heavily than the others in the direction of the average Democrat in Congress.
Among voters who Strongly Disapprove of the job President Obama is
doing, 76% say Trump's views are closest to their own, compared to only
18% who say the same of the average GOP member of Congress.
Voters aren’t sure if the new Congress will be an improvement on the last one, but most want Congress to cooperate with Trump as much as possible.
Fifty-four percent (54%) think major legislation to improve the country is likely to be passed during Trump’s first 100 days in office.
But only 48% of voters are confident that Trump and Congress will work together to do what's best for the American people.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has gone from publicly criticizing Trump when he
was the GOP's presidential nominee to enthusiastically embracing him as
president-elect. Following the election, Ryan is much more popular with his fellow Republicans and is better liked by all voters than any other congressional leader of either major party.
Last August, 47% of GOP voters sad their party should be more like Trump than Ryan. Thirty-six percent (36%) felt it should be more like Ryan.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of GOP voters told Rasmussen Reports last March that Republicans in Congress have lost touch with their party’s base.
That's consistent with Republican voter attitudes for years but was the
highest finding since we first asked this question just after Election
Day in November 2008.
Democrats have always been much more enthusiastic about their congressional representatives.
If you’re looking for the most rockin’ Elvis events in the world, check
out this jam-packed Elvis calendar. People all over the world still
celebrate the life and times of Elvis and we’d love for you to join us!
From annual celebrations at Graceland such as Elvis Week to the Ultimate
Elvis Tribute Artist Contest of Japan, you’re sure to find something
fun near you. Browse this Elvis calendar for the world’s favorite
Elvis-related festivals and events January 5-8, 2017, for the Elvis Birthday Celebration! The 2017 Elvis Birthday Celebration features a "Viva Las Vegas"
Sing-A-Long, Fan Club Presidents' Event, Official Graceland Insiders
Reception and Graceland Tour, Club Elvis, The Auction at Graceland and,
of course, the Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony. Special guests for
the Fan Club Presidents' Event and Graceland Insiders Reception are
Gavin and Robin Koon, Elvis' "Follow That Dream" co-stars. MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Graceland®
celebrated Elvis’™ birthday as construction continues on schedule for
the new, state-of-the-art “Elvis Presley’s Memphis” entertainment
complex across the street from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s™ Memphis
mansion. Graceland guests, fans from around the world, Memphis Mayor Jim
Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell officially celebrated
with a proclamation of “Elvis Presley Day” on the front lawn of
Graceland and by cutting the largest birthday cake in Graceland history.
Other birthday events included concerts and panel discussions, with
special guests including “Follow That Dream” movie co-stars Robin and
Gavin Koon and award-winning filmmaker Andrew Solt, who made a number of
acclaimed films and television specials about Elvis Presley. For the
first time ever, birthday celebration events were hosted at Graceland’s
new AAA Four Diamond-rated resort hotel, The
Guest House at Graceland™. The birthday celebrations kick off the 40th
anniversary of Elvis’ passing.
A highlight of the celebration was The Auction at Graceland held in The
Guest House Theater on January 7. Elvis fans and pop culture enthusiasts
gathered to bid on memorabilia from Elvis’ personal life, all consigned
by third-party collectors and expertly authenticated by Graceland
Authenticated. Highlights included a Gold and Diamond Lion Head Ring
Elvis owned and gave to Charlie Hodge, one of the Memphis Mafia. It was
estimated to sell for $10,000 - $15,000 and went for $37,500.00. Elvis’
Colt “Police Positive Special” .32 Caliber Pistol which he gave to
bodyguard Richard Grob sold for $10,625.00 on an estimate of $4,000 -
$6,000. Over 160 items were sold in the auction.
All of the prices realized include a 25% buyer's premium. For a complete
list of all items and final sale prices visit auction.graceland.com/catalog.aspx.
It was also announced today that Priscilla Presley will be attending the
Grand Opening Celebration of “Elvis Presley’s Memphis,” an entertainment
and exhibit complex over 200,000-square-feet in size across the street
from Graceland Mansion, opening on March 2, 2017. The largest
entertainment complex of its kind, and exponentially bigger than
Graceland’s current visitor center, “Elvis Presley’s Memphis” will
enable music fans, pop culture enthusiasts and Memphis visitors to
follow the path that Elvis took, surround themselves with the things
that he loved, and experience the sights and sounds of the city that
inspired him. Guests will fully immerse themselves in his life and
career like never before -- his roots, his influences and his artistry.
The new complex is phase II of the greatest expansion in Graceland’s
history, totaling nearly $140 million of investment in the Whitehaven
community of Memphis.
The acclaimed Graceland Mansion tour will continue to present the
personal and family side of Elvis’ life, and will soon include a full
restoration of Elvis’ racquetball court, so that it once again looks
exactly as it did when Elvis was last in the Racquetball Building.
“Elvis Presley’s Memphis” will tell the rest of the story, exploring the
beginning of the incredible music and pop culture explosion that all
started here in Memphis, with the greatest entertainer of all time.
The March 2-5 Grand Opening Celebration will feature live concerts and
events celebrating Elvis’ life and career and honoring Memphis’ rich
musical legacy across a variety of genres. The opening weekend will
include the unveiling of “Presley Motors,” the new Elvis Presley
Automobile Museum, “Elvis: The Entertainer” career museum, the Graceland
Soundstage for live music performances and movie screenings, Elvis
“Discovery” spaces showcasing aspects of Elvis’ life and career, and two
themed restaurants named for Elvis’ parents: Vernon’s Smokehouse and
Gladys’ Diner. New retail stores will offer a broad variety of Elvis
merchandise.
For more information on the Grand Opening Celebration March 2-5, 2017,
visit Graceland.com.
For information on The Guest House at Graceland hotel packages for the
Grand Opening weekend that include tickets to tour Graceland Mansion and
Elvis Presley’s Memphis, visit GuestHouseGraceland.com
or call 901-332-3322 (toll-free at 800-238-2000).
The next Elvis Auction at Graceland will take place during the opening
weekend of Elvis Presley’s Memphis on March 4. To have an artifact
considered for inclusion in future Graceland Auctions, please email consignments@graceland.com.
For more information about how to submit items for authentication by
Graceland Authenticated, visit http://www.gracelandauthenticated.com. Tickets go on sale on November 30 for Graceland Insiders and December 1 for the general public.
A swarm of more than 250 small earthquakes have struck since
New Year’s Eve near the California-Mexico border, causing unease among
residents and attention from scientists.
The strongest
earthquake in the sequence was magnitude 3.9, striking directly
underneath the town of Brawley, about 170 miles southeast of Los
Angeles.
The earthquakes struck in the southern end of the Brawley
Seismic Zone, a seismically active region where tectonic plates are
moving away from each other and the Earth’s crust is getting stretched
out “and basically adding land,” said Caltech seismologist Egill
Hauksson.
The Brawley Seismic Zone is particularly
important to watch because it is the region that connects the San
Andreas and Imperial faults, both of which can produce damaging
earthquakes. The seismic zone extends for about 30 miles from the city
of Brawley, across the Salton Sea’s southern half, and ends near Bombay
Beach.
By Sean Higgins(@seanghiggins) Former Chicago Superintendent of Police Garry McCarthy said
Sunday that the Black Lives Matter movement was ultimately responsible
for rising crimes rates in his city and nationally because it was making
it harder for police to do their jobs. McCarthy said that the movement was responsible for a rise in
"noncompliance" — people refusing to cooperate or surrender to police. "What is happening is — and this is ironic — that a movement
with the goal of saving black lives is at this point is getting black
lives taken because 80 percent of our murder victims here in Chicago are
male blacks," McCarthy told New York radio talk show host John Catsimatidis. McCarthy was superintendent at the time of the 2014 death of
Laquan McDonald, a 17 year-old who was shot by police. Dashboard camera
footage of McDonald's death contradicted the officers' accounts of the
incident, which contended that McDonald had come at them with a knife.
The resulting protests after the footage was released helped to fuel the
then-growing Black Lives Matter movement. An officer in the shooting
has been charged with murder. McCarthy was fired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel earlier this year. Crime has soared in Chicago in the last year, with 3,500 reported shootings in the city and the murder rate topping 750. That is the highest number in two decades and a 58 percent increase over the previous year. McCarthy said that there was a direct connection between that
rising crime rate and the movement.
"There has been a political
atmosphere of anti-police sentiment that has swept across this country
over the last few years. The simplest way to describe it is that we have
created an environment where we have emboldened criminals and we are
hamstringing the police. That is creating a state of lawlessness." He added that this was leading to an increase in shootings of police officers as well. He argued that the movement was encouraging "young people not to comply with police and legitimizing that non-compliance." McCarthy was careful to say that there have been cases where
police were responsible for unwarranted and tragic shootings in Chicago
and elsewhere. Cops have to do a better job, he said. But he argued that
the reaction to those cases should not be what drives law enforcement
policy. "Less than half of one percent of all of the shootings in this
city [involve] police officers shooting civilians," he said.
President-elect Donald J.
Trump and his wife, Melania, speaking to members of the news media at
his New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.Credit
Hilary Swift for The New York Times
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.
Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s 118-room private club in Palm Beach.Credit
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
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.”
