a room with a view
Whenever ‘The Donald’ is in the news it seems to me that his own personal seventeen-acre Florida fiefdom, Mar-a-Largo, is never too far away and often racks-up as many media column inches as its ignominious owner. But where did this winter White House, this opulent palace of under-achievement, originate and what dark secrets does its history hide?
Palm Beach, a natural barrier just off Florida’s Atlantic coast, has long been a winter paradise for the grandest American families, including the Fords, the Pulitzers and, of course, the Kennedys. In 1920 it welcomed cereal heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built a vast $7m ($100m in today’s exchange) fifty-eight bedroom mansion in a lavish venetian style incorporating an 1,800sq ft living room and 75ft castle tower. With gold taps and flushing water closets. Nice. Upon her death it was bequeathed to the US government who, in their infinite wisdom, decided to flog it to Trump for half the asking price of $20m. Bargain. Buying an adjacent plot and erecting a carbuncle to spoil the view apparently clinched the deal.
It appears Trump bought it as a ‘statement’ of his arrival and he and his first wife, Ivana, whole-heartedly embraced the sporting Florida lifestyle. However, in the 90s after a string of bankruptcies, The Donald was forced to throw open the gates of his personal Shangri-La and turn it into a private club – one that welcomed Jewish people, black people and gay couples. Surprisingly enlightened me-thinks, until you realise it requested an ‘initiation fee’ of $200,000 and five-figure annual dues. The world renowned library was transitioned into a bar where members were now able to sip whiskey sours under a remarkable portrait of the great man in tennis whites entitled The Visionary.
So far, so what and long-live the American dream. US presidents have more often than not been rich individuals with mansions but Trump was the first who effectively charged people to join him. A commercial Camp David if you like. The then Japanese PM, Shinzo Abe, popped in for tea to chat over the North Korean missile crisis and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, visited to discuss the Syrian issue. This level of visibility provided ample opportunity for lobbying by members and represented a presidential commercialisation without precedent. Secret Service Protection Agents were even charged $650/night to stay over!
After he was defeated in 2020, Trump decamped to Mar-a-Largo with more than 11,000 documents in tow, which eventually triggered a criminal investigation and, under the auspices of an FBI search warrant, the subsequent retrieval of a large number of files. No-one fully knows why The Don wanted to keep his grubby mitts on them, though his attorney at the time has, under oath, stated that he believed the pres wanted to be able “to extort the country”. We do know he considered the correspondence with ‘Little Rocket Man’ Kim Jong Un as his own ‘love letters’ and he has repeatedly boasted of having ‘intel’ on Emmanuel macron’s sex life.
Back in the pleasure dome, members report that, when in town, Trump likes to spin some discs, usually the same ten or so songs from the era when he was a keen clubber, such as YMCA, Blondie and Elton John, before signalling the evening is at an end by playing Elvis’s ‘How Great Thou Art’. Night-night, Donald, sleep-tight.
