“The good news: He’s no longer at the White House,” said Terrie Rizzo, the chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. “The bad news is he’s going to be in our backyard.”
Ms. Rizzo noted that some local Republicans have left the party since the insurrection at the Capitol — 1,488, according to the Palm Beach County elections supervisor’s office. “I won’t have to do a lot of rallying because having him here will be a rallying cry for Democrats,” Ms. Rizzo said…
“His followers are scary,” Olivia Pall said. “Would one want someone of his personality moving into your neighborhood? He’s a nasty person in every way. He’s such an obnoxious influence on our environment.”
Even some longtime Mar-a-Lago members have parted ways with the resort during the Trump era. Curren Robbins and Kylie Bell, sisters from New York who were visiting their parents this week in Palm Beach, said the family gave up its membership in 2017 after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., when Mr. Trump said there had been “very fine people on both sides” of the clashes.
“I met the Trumps a few times. I knew him to be a humble person and voted for him,” Ms. Robbins said. But the rally was a turning point, she said. “Our family is Jewish,” she said. “We felt it was just too much.”
If Mr. Trump intends to live here permanently, there is likely to be some friction. He signed an agreement with Palm Beach in 1993 that said Mar-a-Lago, a private social club, could not be used as a full-time residence, and some neighbors have pressed Palm Beach officials to enforce the pact. Local reporters spotted moving trucks outside of Mar-a-Lago earlier in the week.
Mr. Trump signed an agreement with Palm Beach in 1993 saying he would not use Mar-a-Lago as a private residence.Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post, via Associated Press
Kirk Blouin, the town manager, said in a statement on Wednesday that officials were “not aware of the president’s intent in this regard.”
“If and when the town learns, as a matter of fact, that President Trump intends to reside at Mar-a-Lago, it will address the matter appropriately at that time,” he said. (Mr. Trump and his relatives own other houses neighboring Mar-a-Lago.)
This month, Palm Beach County officials warned Mar-a-Lago that a New Year’s Eve party held at the venue violated a local mask mandate, as evidenced by social media posts featuring revelers who did not wear face coverings. But no citations were issued, and State Representative Omari Hardy, a Democrat whose district includes parts of the county, said officials gave Mr. Trump’s club special treatment.
“Rather than treating him as the other businesses, we’re going easy on him,” he said. “If Palm Beach County isn’t tough, then the president will walk all over us.”
When they are in town, the Trumps rarely leave the cocooned comforts of Mar-a-Lago. Few people expect that to change. The former president and first lady are unlikely to be seen perusing the designer stores on Worth Avenue or dining at La Goulue, the recently opened sister restaurant to the French bistro on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“He never leaves his house,” said Jeff Greene, a Palm Beach real estate investor and former Mar-a-Lago member. “He goes to the golf club and back.”
Carey O’Donnell, a Palm Beach native who runs a marketing and public relations agency, said that isolation had always kept the Trumps from becoming fully enmeshed in the fabric of the town’s social life.
“Palm Beach has its own circulatory system,” she said. “As a private citizen, really, he’s never been a part of that, and I don’t see him changing the game much, except for the factor of having a child in school. That may bring the Trumps out a little bit more.”
Grant Scott Krym, 29, a doorman working at a ritzy Palm Beach condo on Wednesday, said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 but did not cast a presidential ballot in 2020. He was ambivalent about Mr. Trump’s return.
“Now he’s just another guy,” he said. Still, he said, he understood why the former president had fled south.
“What’s not to love about Palm Beach?” he said. “There’s the beach, great restaurants — and it’s a good place to get a suntan.”
MORE AT:
New York Times
From Commander in Chief to Interloper in Palm Beach
If former President Donald J. Trump intends to live in South Florida full time, he is likely to encounter some friction. (Though his fans are thrilled.)
Jan. 21, 2021
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