The President’s Base Camp
Four years after the end of Donald Trump’s first term, Mar-a-Lago, his property in Palm Beach, Florida, which he transformed into a private club open to the richest people in the world, resumes its nickname of ” winter white house “. For the president-elect, this estate serves as both his personal residence and the headquarters from which he forms the administration with which he will lead the country in January 2025. Some personalities, such as billionaire Elon Musk or Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, were present at his side to celebrate the victory on November 5. The next day, says a BBC article, the hotels located around the luxurious residence were quickly sold out, invaded by all those hoping to get a stay. put in the device state.
A million dollar card
The residence, with 114 rooms spread over several wings, occupies an area of almost 6,000 square meters. It was built in the 1920s by Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to a large family of grain businessmen. In 1985, Donald Trump, then a New York real estate magnate, bought the villa and turned it into a circle reserved for 500 members, not one more, whose identity remained, for the most part, secret. In 2012, to be one you had to pay around $100,000. After coming to power in 2016, Donald Trump doubled entry fees, reaching $700,000 by the end of his first term. The last four membership cards still on sale are now worth $1 million, plus $20,000 in annual dues.
A defense rated safe
During Trump’s first term, several ambassadors or members of his cabinet were recruited from members of the Mar-a-Lago club. This is the case of Wilbur Ross, former Secretary of State for Commerce, or Betsy DeVos, of Education. Instead of hosting his foreign counterparts at the White House, Donald Trump often invited them to Florida. In February 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe was present when North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan. This mix of genres earned the owner an accusation for “ retain classified information »: In the summer of 2022, an FBI search of Mar-a-Lago revealed that the Republican was storing confidential documents there related to the security of the United States and its nuclear infrastructure.
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