by WorldTribune Staff, November 27, 2024 Real World News
Palm Beach is a blue enclave in mostly red Florida. It is where elites can discuss their lives while philosophizing about diversity, equity, and inclusion while sipping espresso martinis at trans-friendly nightclubs.
But, given Donald J. Trump’s aversion to the “Swamp,” Palm Beach had become MAGA central years before he once again became the president-elect, and the flood of supporters and high-level foreign delegations have transformed the area , a report said.
“This discreet enclave of about 10,000 full-time residents is part of an area that has long tilted blue. While Florida went heavily for Trump on Election Day, voters in Palm Beach County slightly backed the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris. But with Trump spending so much time in the area, the town of Palm Beach is emerging as the biggest playground for the incoming administration and luminaries of the MAGA movement,” Deborah Acosta wrote for the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 24.
During the transition period, the president-elect typically works with the General Services Administration (GSA), which provides temporary office space in Washington, D.C., and other resources.
Trump availed himself of those services for his first transition, but has yet to sign on with the GSA this time around. That makes Trump the first president-elect who didn’t accept GSA resources as part of the transition since they were offered starting in 1963, said Martha Joynt Kumar, a professor emeritus at Towson University and a presidential scholar.
Area hotels are housing foreign dignitaries, federal officials, and many America First individuals vying for jobs in Trump’s new administration.
They are “meeting with Trump during the frenetic transition period. Traffic is so bad on the island of Palm Beach that longtime residents said they have to drive off on one of three bridges and then drive back on another to avoid bumper-to-bumper tie-ups. And Secret Service agents at the area’s chicest restaurants can outnumber the waitstaff,” Acosta wrote.
In his second term, Trump is likely to spend more time at Mar-a-Lago as some in his inner circle reportedly are thinking about buying homes near what is considered by many the Winter White House.
“His transition operation now resides within the gilded walls of his estate, where he interviews candidates for cabinet and staff roles. Mar-a-Lago and nearby communities are poised to become the country’s new center of political gravity,” Acosta wrote.
“Hotels near Trump’s compound are all booked up. Government officials and media are bidding against each other to secure rooms through January at West Palm Beach’s The Ben hotel, said Timothy Hodes, who is an owner. Major news networks have taken rooms with balconies that overlook the Intracoastal Waterway and the island of Palm Beach to use as the backdrop for their news programs. Others who come with large security details stay for quick, two-day trips, and travel back and forth between Mar-a-Lago and the hotel.”
Bernardo Neto, the hotel’s general manager, noted: “Whether it’s to eat crab cakes or have an official meeting, they’re staying here and heading there.”
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On Nov. 21, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte arrived at the hotel where, Acosta noted, “men dressed in black suits and wearing wire ear pieces commanded the elevators to secure the pool deck.”
“It’s not unusual for a president-elect to run their campaign and transition out of the place they live,” a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition said. “Trump loves Florida and the great people in the state.”
About a quarter of Trump’s Cabinet and staff picks either hail from the Sunshine State or have deep ties there.
“Palm Beach itself has changed dramatically over the past 2 1/2 weeks. Lobbyists, lawyers, government officials and others seeking an audience with the president-elect on the golf course or in his palace have descended there,” Acosta wrote. “Some of the recent arrivals are looking for permanent homes.”
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