Mar-a-Lago by Melania Trump: reserved and relaxing

The highly secure area, like most of the property, is essentially tied to the rest of the club's facilities, where members and guests can stroll, dine, socialize, frequent the extensive outdoor facilities, tennis courts, croquet grounds or the beach club.

President Trump's Mar-a-Lago is the brilliant sou of his wealth, a sprawling example of what he's acquired, the literal interpretation of self-esteem. He rarely leaves his limits, with the exception of golf in his club. Melania Trump is also reluctant to leave the scene and spends most of her vacation days away, isolated from the hoi polloi members. She spends most of her time with her son and parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who spend a good part of the year in Mar-a-Lago.

During the Christmas holidays, the first lady spent three weeks in Mar-a-Lago, with the exception of the four days spent in Washington, and a surprise visit to the troops in Iraq. This month, during the spring break, she is absent from Washington in Mar-a-Lago since March 19 and must return Sunday evening. His year is also dotted with mini-breaks – the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Easter, Thanksgiving.

Yet, like many things at Trump, she still has a privacy screen around her visits here, an oblique notion that she's somewhere, for great times away from the White House, doing whatever she sees fit to do at home. her own pace, according to her own schedule, unrelated to her husband's, or her priorities or habits – an independent way of life that has become the calling card of the first lady of this administration.

"She has a long history in Palm Beach, yes, but she stays for the most part," said Laurence Leamer, a part-time resident of Palm Beach and author of "Mar-a-Lago: Between the Doors of Power at Donald Trump" ". Presidential palace."

Leamer has long been a chronicler of Trump and his habits in Palm Beach, even before the presidential election, and therefore the third wife of Trump.

"All those ladies from Palm Beach," said Leamer, speaking in general of residents of one of the country's richest cities, whose price was too high, "they go to Worth Avenue to do their shopping, they disguise themselves and they pay these exorbitant prices for things, and that's part of the scene – it's what they do here, it's life, but not Melania Trump. "

The visits

When Trump left Washington for Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, her spokesperson, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN that the spring break at the facility was "an annual tradition" for the family .

Few would oppose Trump's relentless commitment to his 13-year-old son, who wants his life to be as "normal" as possible. As such, Trump has not turned away from the opportunities and events that have brought her here since her birth.

Grisham, during the Christmas holidays 2018, which coincided with the government's longest closure, said something similar when CNN insisted on the use of public funds by the first lady for flights to and from from Palm Beach and Washington (Air Force planes are required for the First Lady flight of the United States, according to safety instructions.)

"The family has a long history of spending Christmas holidays in Mar-a-Lago, and plans to travel with his son to his Florida home for his winter vacation." have not changed this year, "said Grisham at the time.

For most of the rich people who "winter" in Palm Beach, far from the cold temperatures and snow of the East Coast, Palm Beach is synonymous with parties, social clubs and nights in the city. But for Melania Trump, Palm Beach is heart-centered, that's where she makes sure things are consistent, where she can take care of the annual traditions and where she can slip away, far from the headlines and chaos.

Since he became the first lady, Trump's Mar-a-Lago days include other additions to his usual vacation and personal care schedule. She now travels with at least one staff member, usually Grisham, whose full title is chief of staff in charge of communications.

Trump and Grisham meet regularly in Palm Beach, Grisham told CNN, to discuss events and off-site visits (this week Trump hosted Fabiana Rosales, the wife of Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly of the country, recognized by the Trump administration The interim president of Venezuela also visited a local elementary school to talk about bullying with students).

They also plan upcoming White House bonds (such as the Easter egg roll) and future trips. Trump is, says Grisham, in "constant communication" with her and the rest of her small wing team is in Washington.

Yet there is another component of his life in Mar-a-Lago that is more personal than professional. This is where Trump spends a long time alone with his husband, the president.

"They dine for hours"

Dinner guests in Mar-a-Lago are used to seeing them now. The couple snuggled on the candlelit patio during dinner, sometimes chatting for two or three hours. Only interrupted by friends who come to shake his hand or wish him a good evening, Donald and Melania Trump are at mealtime in the outdoor restaurant of the club, often dining together Friday and Saturday nights, when Trump is in town, she says. a White House official.

"What married couple spends three hours together alone at dinner?" Leamer, who has watched the Trumps several times, asked rhetorically. "They have been there for so long, other people are going away and they are just … there, they dine for hours, he likes a small table, a table for four people, so that people can come say hello but there is not enough room to invite people to join ".

Pleasant dinners in Mar-a-Lago might well defy the common perception that we often thought, the first couple is irretrievably detached.

"It's amazing that Trump is a public figure, a part of him is very private, and so is I. I speak in the sense that she and he do not necessarily like them." intruder, "said Leamer. "Trump must always be the center of attention, so if you go to someone else 's party, it will not always be."

When Trump receives guests, whose photographs have been distributed publicly, there are generally no more than two or three other couples, often old New York friends, or members of his inner political circle. Creature of habit, when he does not eat alone with Melania Trump, the president does not try to make new friends. He does not try to expand his culinary inclinations either.

Leamer writes in his book that Trump is particularly concerned about his holiday menu – and how many Mar-a-Lago chefs have succeeded each other over the years. As such, Melania Trump does not dispute the kitchen either. Although she may not be eating Trump's favorite steaks and hamburgers or blackened meatloaf, she keeps her taste simple and healthy.

However, Melania Trump oversees menus for major family events, including Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas. But for dinners for two, the focus is on conversation, not on cooking.

"The two of them will sit down and talk and sit for hours, literally," a White House official told CNN, confirming Leamer's story about the first couple's habits.

A long story

Mar-a-Lago was one of the first places where Trump brought his new girlfriend, Melania Knauss, when they started dating in late 1998 or early 1999, and this quickly became the one of his favorite escapades. decade later.

"Melania Trump follows a long tradition of first ladies seeking to escape from the claustrophobic White House," says Kate Andersen Brower, CNN contributor and author of "First Women: The First Modern Woman: The Grace and Power of Women." modern ". "I think she's been more successful than most people because there's so much going on in the west wing of her husband that she can go unnoticed more than Michelle." Obama or Laura Bush. "

Bush had his family ranch in Crawford, Texas, Obama had his Christmas in Hawaii and his summers at Martha's Vineyard, but when these first ladies were on vacation, they felt planned and organized.

"The Reagans had Rancho del Cielo or" Ranch in the Sky, "said Brower," but they were so attached to the hip that they often went together. "

They have rarely spent as much time apart as Assets.

Trump has Mar-a-Lago and in the summer, when South Florida becomes sticky with heat and humidity, she can also escape to New Jersey, where she and her family have more neighborhoods. private in a private club, the Trump National Golf Club. Bedminster. Trump's options are larger, her movements more mysterious and her activities, when she is not working with her team, more wrapped in intimacy.

Trump's desire to move away is perhaps more apparent than that of his predecessors to Jacqueline Kennedy, who would spend long weekends west of the White House at Glen Ora, the 400-acre estate in Virginia where the Kennedys rented.

Brower writes in his book "First Women" "according to Jackie's agent's Secret Service, Clint Hill, between the summer of 1961 and the summer of 1962. The first lady has stayed at nearly Four months from Washington, she often left on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning and would not come back until Monday afternoon or even Tuesday morning. "

Summers for Kennedy were spent in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where the legendary Kennedy complex was located. But Jackie Kennedy, like Trump, also spent time at Palm Beach for Christmas and Easter, and she loved to escape to the family estate in Newport, Rhode Island, where she was married.

Mar-a-Lago also contains conjugal memories for Trump. While the ceremony was taking place at the nearby Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, the lavish wedding reception of the Trumps in 2005 was held in the club's golden ballroom, which came from complete a $ 42 million renovation.

Trump's six-figure sewing dress helped her find the cover of Vogue magazine. At the reception dinner, guests were served with gold speckled hors d'oeuvres, steak and lobster, and enjoyed an expensive champagne. While the party was going on in the pool after dinner, Trump changed into a white Vera Wang dress, perfect for dancing, which the newlyweds did until the early hours.

Mar-a-Lago also served as a backdrop to the weddings of Donald Trump, Jr and Eric Trump – and more recently, guests who choose to host their wedding at the club sometimes have to attend a brief audience with the president. if he is in town.

But even when they live with their family in Mar-a-Lago, especially the extended clan of Donald Trump, those who observe the first lady say that she, her parents, and her son form their own impenetrable entity , less accessible.

And when she's there for her husband, "she's on his arm, dressed dramatically, even if it's only for members to see," Leamer said. "Mar-a-Lago is the only place where he feels really relaxed, he feels comfortable there – and I think that's also true for her."