President Trump’s historic Palm Beach estate is a fundraising powerhouse where the campaign deploys the president, family members, and aides to a campaign coffer-swelling effect.
Trump raised unprecedented amounts through small-dollar donations while rejecting corporate PAC money in his sweep to the presidency in 2016. Today, the Mar-a-Lago property is ground zero in his turn toward wealthy donors, a trend that saw the ritzy members club transition from the Palm Beach charity circuit to a central gathering place for groups that support the president.
Mar-a-Lago was long a venue for high-society fundraisers, but remarks by the president that there were “very fine people on both sides” in the wake of deadly protests that included white supremacists and antifa radicals in Charlottesville, Virginia, put an abrupt stop to them. More than 20 of the area’s most prominent charities canceled events in the days after, and most have not returned.
But political fundraising at Mar-a-Lago has raised tens of millions of dollars for Trump’s reelection campaign.
“Fundraising is no longer the same since he took over as president,” Palm Beach-based GOP fundraiser and realtor Teresa Dailey told the Palm Beach Post. “He’s got his own venue, he’s an icon, everybody wants to be there. It’s not like it used to be where you have to work for it.”
Trump has visited Palm Beach more than 30 times since becoming president and has hosted close to a dozen Mar-a-Lago fundraisers during the winter season. His next event is scheduled for March 8.
One GOP fundraiser called Mar-a-Lago part of a “monopoly” effect, suggesting donors were tied to the president’s portfolio. “Do they want to go to Mar-a-Lago and write a check, or is that the only option where they get to go to?” asked Ann Herberger, who has worked with the Bush family. “Where he owns properties, there is no choice.”
A Feb. 7 telethon hosted by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump raised $25 million. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted a selfie from the property.
Great Saturday from the #MarALago tower! pic.twitter.com/aVuHcrYuyW
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) February 8, 2020
One week later, at the nearby property of billionaire Nelson Peltz, a friend of Trump’s for more than 20 years, the president pulled in $10 million from elite donors.
And Trump’s team has taken “Trump Season,” as the Palm Beach winter social season has become known, to his friends down the ballot. A February breakfast at Mar-a-Lago hosted by Donald Trump Jr. raised $50,000 for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
