Donald Trump’s new life, between his golf club, political activity and active participation in networks

John Quincy Adams was not particularly optimistic when, after losing his re-election, he left the White House in 1829. “There is nothing more pathetic in life than a former president”, declared the sixth president of the United States at the time. To his own surprise, he enjoyed a second, long and very full political life as a member of Congress.

So there is life after the White House, but everyone finds it in their own way. George Washington opened a whiskey distillery. Thomas Jefferson founded a university. Many wrote his memoirs, including Barack Obama, who reinvented himself as a film producer and just released a podcast with Bruce Springsteen. Bill Clinton was enriched by his interviews. George W. Bush got the painting. To Franklin Pierce, for alcohol (“What can a former president do besides drink?” Asked the 14th American president, whose alcohol addiction preceded his departure from the Oval Office).

Donald Trump is abstinent. Famous, very famous, before reaching the White House, he continues to be the celebrity that he is, and since he left office, in addition to sending press releases as belligerent as his old tweets , he often drops during social events organized at Mar-a-Lago, its golf club and Palm Beach (Florida).

Dressed in a sleek, slimmer tuxedo than when he was president a few weeks ago, Trump took the microphone to congratulate a wedding couple. As a video posted by TMZ shows, he took the opportunity to post a litany of complaints about Joe Biden and fraud never proven in the November elections, an issue that can hardly be called a nuptial one.

“I get all these alerts on the border, China, Iran… What do you think about Iran?” He asked the guests. “And China, the same. They never treated us like that, did they? He commented before talking about the situation at the border. “Do I miss them?”Trump asked the audience, who responded with cheers and applause. Before congratulating the couple, he insisted he got ’75 million votes’, more than anyone ‘ever’ (in fact, it was 74.2 million and Biden got 81.2 million. ).

The newlyweds were John and Megan Arrigo, the son of a wealthy Republican donor. The family are clients of the luxury club, known as Mar-a-Lago after the name of its main mansion, the place where Donald and Melania Trump have fixed his residence. Videos posted on social media by his protagonists in recent weeks suggest that the former president often appears by surprise in their rooms and gardens to take photos with his clients. Recently he has been seen at a cocktail party, car show, model show, wedding tie …

The former first family in the United States has barely moved from Mar-a-Lago since arriving (there is only a brief trip to New York). But it does not mean that they have lost contact with their supporters nor that they are unwilling to attend the social occasions in which they are required. His new website (45office.com) includes different options: send them messages, request a personal welcome “for a special occasion” or send “invitations” to him or his wife.

“Will there be a press present?”, “Will there be a notable person?” Unlike other former presidents or celebrities who turn to media agencies to manage their public agenda, Trump seems keen to take the reins himself, just as he has in New York and the White House.

His golf club in Florida during his presidency became the scene of a multitude of political acts and intrigue on the part of American conservative circles, a situation which continued beyond his presence in the White House as the Republican Party is considering its future. “Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach are currently the center of the Republican universe,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said. The Washington Post . “All Republican roads lead to Mar-a-Lago.”

In recent weeks, there have been pilgrimages from Republican Minority Leader in the Lower House, Kevin McCarthy, to his former press secretary and candidate for Governor of Arkansas or to representatives of the most extreme wing of the party, like Madison Cawthorn or Marjorie Greene, asking for your support for the 2022 parliamentary election. The photo posted by his former immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, allowed us to see for the first time his new office in Mar-a-Lago (you can see, for example, a photo of Air Force One, another of Mount Rushmore, a statue of himself, a half-hidden Coca-Cola a few days after calling for a boycott of the company …).

Trump has no vocation as a Chinese vase. At last week’s meeting of big Tory donors at his club, the former president called Republican Senator Mitch McConnell a “stupid son of a bitch.” Comments like this do a disservice to those who advocate not choosing between Trumpism and the traditional wing of the party to hold it together without scaring moderate voters.

Trump disagrees. “I tell you with confidence that in 2022 we will recover the House of Representatives and the Senate, and that in 2024 there will be a Republican candidate who will win the White House,” he assured donors. That day he did not suggest running for office again.. There aren’t many cases, but some of its predecessors did well. Grover Cleveland, for example, served twice as president in the late 1800s with a four-year layoff in between. It was his formula for overcoming this “pathetic” life that Adams said awaited former presidents.

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