PALM BEACH, Florida — If former President Donald Trump believed genteel Palm Beach would offer a haven of peace after four years at the White House, the C-17 Globemaster cargo plane, returning his final presidential motorcade vehicles to Washington, would have given him pause.
It thundered into the pink evening sky on Wednesday evening and straight over Trump’s new home at Mar-a-Lago.
In so doing, it delivered a teeth-shaking reminder of the legal battles fought by the property developer-turned-world leader as he tried to have flight paths rerouted away from his private club. And it could foreshadow a new round of litigation — much to the annoyance of weary neighbors.
Like much of the country, the disputes divide the populations of well-heeled Palm Beach and the bigger city of West Palm Beach just across the water. Whether you side with the county against the Trump golf club or the airport against Mar-a-Lago frequently comes down to your view of Trump, the man.
Jeff Greene, a Palm Beach real estate investor and former Mar-a-Lago member, described the frustration of living close to such a prominent neighbor. At least when he was president, the Federal Aviation Administration had diverted planes away from Trump’s location, he said.
Now, he gets the worst of both worlds — road closures and checkpoints, but the flights have returned.
“Now, I am sitting outside, and all you hear is the planes,” he said. “And I can’t drive into Palm Beach. The least he could do is let us have some peace.”
Trump launched a $100 million lawsuit against Palm Beach County in 2015, accusing it of deliberately diverting flights over his club. Not only did the planes shatter the estate’s tranquility, the suit claimed, but vibrations and emissions were damaging Mar-a-Lago’s Spanish tiles and causing cracks in its stone construction.
The suit was dropped soon after Trump was elected president. Security measures meant his location was subject to no-fly zones.
But the steady stream of private jets taking off over Mar-a-Lago in the hours after Trump left office showed they had returned to the regular routing, even though the former president was in residence.
At the same time, Trump faces other legal disputes.
Some neighbors have launched an effort to prevent from Trump living at Mar-a-Lago at all. They say he risks breaching the terms of a 1990s agreement that specified he could not live there permanently if he wanted to convert it from a home to a private club.
And it emerged that the county has explored ending its lease with the president’s Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where Trump played golf on his first day after leaving the White House. (And where he played frequently when president.)
Chief Assistant County Attorney Howard Falcon told news organizations that an official, citing the attack on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, asked him whether the lease could be canceled. His initial review suggested there was no legal basis for such a move.
Even so, it illustrates a community divided. Some fear the legal disputes could drive the president away. Others say that is exactly point.
“He can’t use the helipad either,” said Bill Diamond, a prominent local Republican who worked for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, referring to a deal that allowed Trump to fly in and out by helicopter — but only when he was president. “But I’d like him to stay.”
His argument is that the region benefits from the prestige of a former world leader living there — and the business generated for the local economy.
It all leaves local authorities trying to placate what Larry Casey, a longtime political operative, describes as a “very persnickety town.” Officials do not want to pick a fight with Trump and risk driving away his property taxes, but they also have to placate deep-seated anger among many locals.
“Their hands are tied,” he said.
Critics like Greene scoff at the argument, pointing out that Trump is not a big spender around town. His days are spent at his own properties rather than sharing his dollars.
But he said the former president could have a harmonious future in Palm Beach if he simply remembered that most people had moved there for a quiet life behind their bougainvillea-dappled hedges.
“I think if he lies low and settles into a life of retirement like most people his age,” Greene said, “I think the neighbors will be fine having him around.”
