impressive security footprint since the assassination attempts and porous reputation Property in Trump’s first term very few restrictions For Mar-a-Lago members and guests. This could be an advantage for a club advertising a $1 million upfront fee plus $20,000 annually. “I have about a half dozen fellow members, so it’s actually not hard for me to get into Mar-a-Lago,” says Rein Lively. “Sometimes I get multiple dinner invitations for the same night. I messed up the other night and one of the members got really mad because I promised them I’d sit at their table and then – I hate to say it but that’s how it goes – there was another table that was more effective. So of course I left the first table and sat at the second table, and the member who invited me to the first table was furious because you’re really not supposed to do that. It really frustrates the director when your table isn’t fully seated and everyone doesn’t arrive on time; “Things get really messy there.”

The Coast Guard outside Mar-a-Lago on Election Day.
Photo: AFP via Getty Images

These are just the beginning of the upcoming administration’s power plays at Trump’s spent Mar-a-Lago. 142 days in his first term. “Why will you join now? Now you’re joining because you want to get close to Trump and make a deal or something. You will be there for four years. “You don’t care when you leave office” said writer Laurence Leamerwho wrote a book It says Trump has been banned from the club at the most famous resort. “It’s a supper club and you only go when Trump is there. You’ll probably go once a week for four months during a season. You do this for four years, you do the math; You spend $18,000 per meal to get in there. It’s the most expensive meal you’ll ever eat, but is it worth it if your company gets a $2 billion settlement from the federal government? “This is the best money you’ve ever spent.”

With impact comes discomfort. Leamer, who lives in Palm Beach, said traffic has been terrible since Trump took refuge in the Winter White House. “The island was split in two,” he says. “It would take you half an hour or more to get from one end of the island to the other.”

Photo: Getty Images

Unless you’re in it curtained room Given Trump and his chief of staff, it can be difficult to know who among his loyalists has successfully pandered to the impulsive president-elect. Rein Lively has a theory that dinner seating arrangements are a kind of narrative ranking system. “Everyone is calculating, everyone is ruthless,” he says. “Everyone wants to know who they are talking to, what they are saying, where they are sitting, why they are sitting, and who is sitting with whom. One night it was raining and they brought all the tables inside. So you could really tell who was most important by the way the tables were seated. And I found it very flattering that my chair was close to the president. And Elon gave me a high five last night.”

For a Republican basking in Trump’s victory, this is both fun and challenging; lots of sun, golf and martinis, all working to capitalize on proximity to fame, power and money. “His House of Cards On the lido deck,” said Rein Lively.