A moving truck was spotted outside President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, as President-elect Joe Biden was preparing to move into the White House.
Even before being president, Mr. Trump Florida The club had been a lightning rod for the controversy between his family and some of his wealthy neighbors.
As Manuel Bojorquez of CBS News reports, this is unlikely to change when the president makes the final change on Wednesday.
“West Palm Beach, where we are now, is extremely Democratic,” said Palm Beach Post senior political reporter Christine Stapleton, adding that Trump’s popularity in the city is fragile.
“Since the Capitol riots, there has been a real change in Mar-a-Lago whether or not it remains a place that the Republican Party and conservative groups want to have their events there,” said Stapleton. “They may not want to.”
A GOP fundraising event held in Mar-a-Lago in February raised about $ 25 million, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Mr. Trump bought the property in 1985 and turned it into a private club, which has become his winter home for the past four years.
However, neighbors are questioning whether it can become their permanent home. Palm Beach residents recently sent a letter to city leaders, citing a 1993 agreement that they say prohibits anyone from permanently living on the property because it is a social club.
“I think Trump’s defense will be that this is political,” said Democrat Dave Aronberg, Palm Beach County State Attorney. “He can say in court that the city and everyone knew that he lived there and never tried to enforce this agreement until now, when they started to disagree with his policy.”
Politics aside, Aronberg said people in Palm Beach just like their privacy.
“Even his supporters in Palm Beach, and there are a lot of supporters on the island, but even they don’t want the drama, the commotion that President Trump is going to bring to the island, because that’s why they move there. They like their privacy. They like silence. And it will disrupt many things on the island, “he said.
But not everyone in the area agrees.
“It will be huge, huge, there will be so many people to come,” said supporter Annie Marie Delgado. “They are going to welcome this president home, and it will be peaceful and it will be exciting.”
When Trump returns to Palm Beach, Delgado plans to be at the front and center of the airport. She had previously headed Trump Team 2020, a state group loyal to Trump.
Asked if she thinks the change of president will make South Florida the heart of the Republican Party, she replied, “Now, brown cow, you said the bad word in my book.”
The “bad word” was GOP.
“I’m a Trumplican,” said Delgado. “We have to do some serious cleaning work at ‘GOP’, especially in the state of Florida.”