A few weeks into the works, the renovations, which were undertaken to make the space about 3,000 square feet larger and updated in preparation for Trumps life after the White House, are, according to the response, not to Trump’s aesthetics. Trump was also unhappy with other renovations to the property, the source said, not just in the living space.
“He was not happy with that,” said the source, noting that some hard, one-sided talks with the club management followed almost immediately.
The White House did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
It was Melania Trump, and her interior decorator, Tham Kannalikham, who chose many of the details about the renovations, but not the staff of Mar-a-Lago, of which Trump was well aware.
This is not the first time the president’s personal taste has clashed with his wife. Trump was also not happy about some of the decorative updates to Camp David, another project of the first lady, when he saw it during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to another source familiar with the president’s reaction to the visit.
The Mar-a-Lago source noted that Trump was so dissatisfied with the way some of the renovations looked this week that he asked for the decor, which consists of white marble and an abundance of dark wood, to be removed must be. They were immediately.
If the kick-off of his last stay in Florida as president was rough, the days after that would be very much the same, with Trump as ‘moody’, according to the source at the club, and spending more time than usual behind closed doors and not mixing as much as which he does not normally mix with club members and senior staff in the White House, and many of them have joined him over the past few years.
“The atmosphere is down,” said another source at Mar-a-Lago this Christmas compared to the previous one.
Trump’s turmoil over when or even if he would sign a major aid package Covid-19 and federal funding bill created a mystery as to whether his day would be good or bad or indifferent. Trump would initially sign the bill on Christmas Eve, according to a source familiar with the president’s schedule, but at the last minute decided not to do so. On Sunday, on his way out to dinner at his nearby Trump International Golf Club, Trump finally signed on.
Changes at the club
Although he largely ignored the destruction of Covid-19 across the country in public, made few comments in recent weeks, and apparently took a backward approach because hundreds of thousands of Americans became infected each day, Trump could not impact the coronavirus. do not avoid at his beloved sanctuary Mar-a-Lago.
The week between Christmas and New Year is usually the highlight of the winter season, and on Mar-a-Lago some longtime members avoid the club.
“It’s just too big a risk, not worth it,” said a member who chose not to travel to Florida this year.
Yet there are a number of busy areas and an abundance of people, adds another member who was in contact with people currently in Mar-a-Lago.
“People are going to dinner as usual,” the source said, and there is apparently “little respect for the pandemic.”
At the beach club area next to the pool, it is so busy during the day that guests argue over the available chairs, the source said.
The Florida Department of Health on Monday released new figures for the positivity of the test. Palm Beach County was at 10.38%, the highest since November 30 and a rise since December 15 at 8.42%. The state considers anything above 5% to be dangerous.
A winter host in Palm Beach said they heard about the lack of parties, events and fundraisers in the affluent enclave, and the table-jumping mealtime, going from table to table exchanging air kisses and hellos, almost disappeared . The masked mandate for businesses, businesses, public spaces and restaurants in Palm Beach has been extended in Palm Beach County until January 20 and includes Mar-a-Lago, although compliance there has been hit or missed at best.
The Mar-a-Lago ‘scene’ consists, as it were, largely of Trump holding the court while he is in residence. Club members and their guests like to marvel at the President of the United States during the buffet or party in the ballroom. According to a wedding Monday night in Mar-a-Lago, Trump made a surprising appearance and came in to wave hello and congratulate the bride and groom, according to someone who was at the event.
New Year’s Eve party
The fantastic Mar-a-Lago black-tie New Year’s Eve party, which Trump and his family attend annually and which pays guests thousands per ticket, will take place on Thursday night, a member of Mar-a-Lago said. who has heard that at least 500 bookings have already been confirmed. What is unclear is whether participants will adhere to the coronavirus mitigation guidelines. At a gala earlier this month for Turning Point USA, the conservative student group, partygoers insulted the mask and social distancing requirements. Photos of the event showed hundreds in the Mar-a-Lago ballroom.
The president was also transferred to a smaller group of celebrities to entertain and occupy his time during this Florida trip. There are no foreign leaders to present, as was often the case during his presidency, and most of the West Wing senior staff who usually join the tour are not there.
On Sunday, Trump did not go out to dinner with the first lady, but according to a witness at a table with his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and Trump Jr. ‘s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, according to one witness, who said Trump had a pop-bee at the table from Roger Stone, one of his longtime accomplices who had pardoned the president less than a week earlier. Stone entered the club wearing a “Trump 2020” face mask.
Trump’s most frequent activity – and respite – was his round of golf, holiday recreation, which so many millions of Americans forgot this year when they heeded warnings about the spread of coronavirus.
On Tuesday, on his way to the golf course, the president had time to tweet about the confused state of affairs in Washington, DC, where politicians scramble to get the eleventh-hour financial support to Americans facing economic desperation.
“Republican leadership just wants the path of least resistance,” Trump tweeted. “Our leaders (of course not me!) Are pathetic.”