Meanwhile, President and First Lady Melania Trump are renovating their private rooms in Mar-a-Lago to prepare for a permanent return. And with an eye on their political future, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump bought a multimillion-dollar property in an exclusive part of Miami. Trump’s children plan to spend more time in Palm Beach unless Eric’s wife Lara Trump ends up running for the Senate in North Carolina, according to a person close to the family.
Together, the moves will inevitably make the Palm Beach area and Florida the ground zero for the MAGA movement, giving Trump convenient access to potential donors and some of his most devoted allies while he plans a potential return offering for 2024. By unlike previous presidents, like Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who quietly entered his post-presidency and spent time working on his books or picking up oil paintings, Trump must enter his next chapter like a cannon shot, keeping control over his political base with the help of his family, going against the Biden government on Twitter and holding MAGA events. Supporters will continue to flock to Palm Beach, even if it irritates many long-time residents, who see their locality as a tranquil enclave above politics and are fighting the president for a permanent move to Mar-a-Lago.
“You are seeing a lot of conservative influencers talking about Florida and this is creating an environment where … people are looking for safe havens where their ideology manifests in the world around them,” said Blair Brandt, a Palm Beach political consultant and fundraiser. Republican fund manager who served as Florida finance co-president for Trump’s re-election campaign.
The president’s early move to Palm Beach is part of a broader movement of prominent Republicans who support Trump to move south in Florida. According to Bloomberg, the stock of real estate in Palm Beach has dropped 75% due to high demand, and the island’s exclusive clubs, such as Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, have long waiting lists.
Some Trump allies and prominent conservatives recently moved to South Florida – including conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who moved from Los Angeles, and Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who is a legal resident of Florida. Radio presenter Rush Limbaugh has a home in Palm Beach, and Trump-focused Newsmax, directed by Chris Ruddy, a longtime friend of Trump’s, lives in West Palm Beach.
Trump has long reveled in the attention he was given at his Mar-a-Lago Club, which has become a passing destination for fans and a place for the president’s allies to see and be seen. Last week, Turning Point USA held its gala at the resort – a who’s who of Trumpworld, with White House officials like press secretary Kayleigh McEnany taking selfies with young fans without a mask.
During his most recent visit, however, the president did not mix with guests as he did in the past and kept most of it to himself, according to a member of the club. Some members spent $ 1,200 on tickets to the club’s New Year’s gala, hoping to see the president and first lady and have fun with 90s rapper Vanilla Ice, but were disappointed when the president decided to return early to Washington for unknown reasons.
But with his term running out, the expanded Mar-a-Lago neighborhood is set to become the new home of the Trump movement in exile.
Trump “adds star quality much more permanently,” said former White House press secretary and Newsmax anchor Sean Spicer. “The idea that Florida Republicans have good access to the president is big business. Having the president’s star power is big business and Palm Beach is already a massive fundraising destination for Republican candidates. “
Brandt noted that his job as a fundraiser, connecting wealthy conservatives in Palm Beach to the Republican Party, will receive a welcome shock with Trump constantly around.
“It will translate the power of the presidency into a political machine, which no one has done in Trump’s way before,” said Brandt. “But having someone like Trump who is an operator and needs things to do, he can be very influential in Republican fundraising.”
But while Republican Party agents in Florida are happy to orbit near the new center of the Republican universe, many long-time residents are rolling their eyes. While they are breathing relieved by traffic congestion due to road closures, they are anxious about what Trump’s permanent presence might mean – including a potential presidential library and museum that could become a tourist destination for the MAGA world. A Trump adviser even envisioned a kind of Trump-themed amusement park.
“I fully understand why he and his whole family want to be in Florida,” said Matthew Swift, a Palm Beach resident and founder of the non-partisan Concordia Summit. “The president is incredibly popular here,” he noted, but added, “people are certainly curious about how this will work with the development of a presidential library and any other center that the president plans to develop.”
No matter what happens, Trump will still have a Secret Service detachment, but not the kind of security footprint – with barriers and no-fly zones – that comes with being an incumbent president.
Even before Trump formally moved to Palm Beach, some potential neighbors have raised concerns about him living in what he calls the “Winter White House” full-time, claiming that he has agreed not to use the club as a full-time residence . In the past, the president has clashed with the city over planes flying over the club and he is expected to confront the community about the use of his helipad on property.
Several people close to Trump said that while renovations are underway at the club, the small size of his space in Mar-a-Lago could put pressure on him to find another property in Palm Beach, and they expect him to buy a separate home in island.
Still, some Palm Beach residents, even those who support Trump, say that at the end of the day nothing will really change.
“Palm Beach has always been a place above politics, if you want. It’s not about Democrats or Republicans or Rush Limbaugh or anything, ”said Guido Lombardi, a member of Mar-a-Lago and a resident of Palm Beach. “Some people here attend to personalities who feel they should shake hands.”