Trump Refuses To Leave His House & He Demands Mar-a-Lago Employees Make Sure GQP Allies Call Him Every Day To Praise Him
A longtime confidant of Trump says his office, designed to mimic the Oval Office, is "like a Barbie Dream House miniature".
Last Sunday, the Washington Post published an eye-opening feature about Donald Trump’s aimless, pathetic post-presidential life. The numerous examples of Trump’s undiluted stupidity and endless need for public adulation (from people he despises and calls “disgusting”) still retain the ability to (somewhat) surprise.
Four Post reporters — Rosalind S. Helderman, Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker and Jacqueline Alemany — spoke with 23 people for their 5,300-word article.
In the two years since he left office, Trump has re-created the conditions of his own freewheeling White House — with all of its chaos, norm flouting and catering to his ego — with little regard for the law. With this behavior, Trump prompted a criminal investigation into his post-presidential handling of classified documents to compound the ongoing one into his and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election results — which presents potential legal peril and risks hobbling his nascent bid to be elected president again in 2024.
A few highlights:
Trump “is served almost exclusively by sycophants” these days and goes about each day “almost entirely without restraint”. If anyone disagrees with him about anything, they are immediately replaced.
Trump has constructed an office that mimics the Oval Office exactly (so he can pretend he’s still the president). The attempt at creating an illusion he did not get voted out of office is “sad”, according to a longtime Trump confidant, who also referred to the office as “a Barbie Dream House miniature.” Aides spent months redecorating the space.
The former president personally directed the process, choosing the furniture, rugs and paintings, and designating which mementos of his time in office would be displayed. Even so, people familiar with the process said aides fretted he would deem the redesigned space insufficient after four years in the Oval Office.
At some point, his aides requested that the GSA formally lease the space from Mar-a-Lago for his use as a post-presidential office — an arrangement that would have directed a stream of taxpayer money back to Trump, potentially for the remainder of his life — a person familiar with the request said. The GSA declined, instead leasing office space in West Palm Beach.
Trump also wanted GSA to pay the shipping for a 300-pound portrait of himself (6 feet by 8 feet). GSA said transition funds cannot be used for “personal property”.
Trump has one aide (a former OAN host!) follow him around on the golf course (he sometimes plays 27 holes a day) and show him news articles that portray him positively. (The aide also brings a printer!) Another aide is forced to cajole various political allies and ask them to (please) call Trump and tell him how great he is (or, as the Post puts it, “boost his spirits with positive affirmations”).
The Post lays out the trouble Trump had adjusting to life outside the White House (my emphasis):
He was surprised by how much his Secret Service detail and motorcade had shrunk. He no longer had use of a major aircraft; Air Force One was unavailable to him, and his company’s TRUMP-emblazoned Boeing 757 was in the shop — repairs that took years, with delays that infuriated him. His living spaces were far smaller than the White House. And he was annoyed that his statements to the press were not getting much attention, four advisers said.
At one point in early 2021, Trump asked a team of advisers if he could summon a press pool — like the contingent of reporters, photographers and videographers who travel with the president — for an event at his Florida club. But there was no pool on call because he was no longer president.
“We had to explain to him that he didn’t have a group standing around waiting for him anymore,” one former aide said. . . .
He was routinely angry, advisers said, about being removed from social media . . . His mood was foul for months, as he paid attention to little else than the lost election, conspiracy theories to explain away the Jan. 6 attack and mounting legal bills from a rotating cast of attorneys . . .
“It was a really dark, dark time,” the aide said . . .
People who know Trump said the need for attention that has been a driving force throughout his life has not dwindled since he left the office that shone on him the world’s brightest spotlight. That has pushed him to seek adulation from a court of supplicants who pay for access to Trump at his Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, N.J., clubs, where he has spent most of his time. . . .
On a typical day . . . Trump gets up early, makes phone calls, watches television and reads some newspapers. Then, six days a week, he plays 18 or sometimes 27 holes of golf at one of his courses. After lunch, he changes into a suit from his golf shirt and slacks and shows up in the office . . .
By evening, Trump emerges for dinner, surrounded most nights by adoring club members who stand and applaud at his appearance; they stand and applaud again after he finishes his meal and retires for the night. He often orders special meals from the kitchen and spends time curating the music wafting over the crowd, frequently pushing for the volume to be raised or lowered based on his mood. . . . [He] yells out commands to whichever employee is in earshot.
At times, Trump makes unannounced visits at weddings, gala benefits and other events being hosted by paying customers in Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom, basking as attendees mob him for selfies. . . .
“He really doesn’t do a lot of consequence most days,” one person in his orbit said. . . .
Trump is far more isolated than he was as president. He makes virtually no public appearances outside of political rallies where he is surrounded by even larger crowds of screaming fans. . . . He takes no vacations to properties he does not own. He almost never encounters people willing to challenge his behavior . . .
His circle has shrunken considerably, with many of his longtime allies attempting to avoid dinner invites . . .
“No one wants to confront him because he can be a beast,” one adviser said. . . .
[Harp, the former OAN host] is said to cater attentively to his need for constant praise. While other advisers have urged Trump to vet his statements to the social media platform Truth Social, Harp has been willing to post whatever Trump wants without review. She often perches herself right outside his office, two advisers said, and follows Trump around all day, including on the golf course. . . .
[P]eople close to Trump say more random figures around the country have his personal cellphone number and can easily get access to him, particularly if they play to his obsession with false theories that the 2020 election was stolen. As a confidant put it, “Some guy from Arizona is calling and saying, ‘You won’t believe the fraud we saw.’” . . .
[Several paragraphs about Trump stealing (and then refusing to return) hundreds of top secret and classified documents and security at the hotel/club.]
People who have visited the club since Trump left office have said security is even more lax now, with guests often able to access the property without even showing an identification. . . .
Visited on a day late last month . . . there were no security guards at the entry point to the former president’s home.
The gate stood open.