Political power in America is again being centered in Donald Trump’s Florida home and private club, Mar-a-Lago as he prepares for his second term. Mar-a-Lago, once an exotic winter resort, has suddenly emerged as the unofficial “Winter White House,” hosting political figures, heavy hitters, and hopefuls eyeing a piece of action in his new administration.
Mar-a-Lago has emerged as a competitor power center, to which President Joe Biden will retreat until January 2025. There, an odd assortment of political influencers, business barons, and other public personalities crisscross the once-private estate transformed into a fortified safe haven with robot dogs and armed patrols, into a place where dropping by is the thing to be seen when it comes to being part of the next White House team.
A Power House of Politics
Mar-a-Lago has already hosted many guests who are crucial to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, like North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, the Energy Secretary candidate. In the election night, ex-US Defense Department official Kash Patel also visited the club as he continued to make himself an integral part of the elect president’s circle.
Along with being the world’s richest man, billionaire Elon Musk has often dined with and held phone calls for the president with world leaders at Mar-a-Lago, where he was recently spotted by photographers, accompanied by his son, as he shuttled back and forth to stay close during Trump’s transition.
Political Leaders Spend Time at Mar-a-Lago
Those who aren’t lucky enough to get invites to stay at Mar-a-Lago itself pack nearby hotels and restaurants, like The Ben hotel and The Breakers, with office-seekers elbowing for an ear at the country’s leaders’ table. Here, former presidential candidate and son of the late senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was vying for a role influencing health policy. Another vocal member of the Republican Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene, was also seen at The Ben. According to sources close to the first family, she is positioning herself for a cabinet position.
Dana White, chief of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, was also spotted at The Breakers, but his plans appear to be anything but political. Still, his celebrity visit joined an expanding sense of tension and maneuvering within Trump’s ranks.
A Jockeying for Cabinet Positions
Inside Mar-a-Lago, the tension is heavy with competition. A GOP insider described the transition as being like a “free-for-all,” with different factions of the party vying for supremacy. “Trump loves to see people scramble and suck up,” the insider said, noting that some figures are already looking to distance themselves from the administration. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, for example, has made it clear he prefers a Senate leadership role over a position in Trump’s administration.
Evidently, on his second term, Trump said that loyalty will be at the top of the list for him. In an interview with the press, his son, Don Jr., noted that he wants “people who don’t think they know better” than his dad. According to him, Trump claimed that the former regretted hiring “bad or disloyal people” during his first term and said that this time around, staffing would be done differently.
New Approach to Transition and Appointments
Unlike 2016, when the plans to cede the Oval Office to a successor to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were canned in favor of a more dramatic public spectacle, Trump is stepping into 2024 entirely behind closed doors. His biggest appointment yet, Florida political consultant Susie Wiles, to White House Chief of Staff gives a small peek into the growing power of Florida’s conservative machine. For nearly two decades Wiles has been a big player in Florida politics and must be expected to spearhead Trump’s administration in Florida with an exceptionally powerful team.
Florida Rising: What the State Brings to Washington
Florida has long been known as the political battleground. Now with leaders such as Wiles, when coupled with Senator Marco Rubio, it could see the impact of the state rising much further. Slater Bayliss, Florida’s most prominent lobbyist, surmised that the new Republican president would quickly assemble a powerful team of right-wing conservatives since the state had emerged as a “stronghold of resistance” for acute political thinkers. With several big Floridians lined up for high-profile positions, Florida might turn out to be critical in shaping up Trump’s second term.
Mar-a-Lago: The Political Capital of Trump’s America
More than a private club for Trump, however, it’s an emblem of his political identity. Bayliss believes the club has become “the most sacred real estate in the political universe.” Indeed, in the weeks since his election victory, those at Mar-a-Lago, with its palm tree-lined driveways and golden gates, have become a magnet for political figures from throughout the country, clamouring for seats at the table.
Loyalty is the watchword of the moment, as witnessed in the approach to staffing by Trump: many of the positions will go to those who stood by him from the very first. The constant face of the media outside Mar-a-Lago added to the spectacle, with reporters gathering outside the fortified compound to snap pictures of comings and goings on the list of potential appointees.
Not Quite Done With: Mar-a-Lago’s Continuing Impact
As the country enters 2025, Mar-a-Lago will likely keep being the center of political activity during and after the second term of President Trump. Argentina President Javier Milei was reported to have been planning a visit to Mar-a-Lago soon; moreover, the annual summit of the Conservative Political Action Conference has been hosted at the Florida estate, promising the place to be an important hot spot for political planning in the near future.
Mar-a-Lago is also finding its role as a central hub of Trump’s administration growing stronger, and once Trump returns to the White House, its potential increases. Indeed, Bayliss predicts that Trump’s ambition to stay as long in Florida as he can during his second term may transform the estate into an even more salient political power base, redefining the face of American politics in the future.
(Includes inputs from online sources)
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