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Eminentoes
Money, Money, and Trump
Showing the flag at Mar-a-Lago as no one else can (or would dare to).
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The guy might have a bad comb-over and goofy TV show, but Donald Trump is no slouch when it comes to hitting the jackpot.
A case in point is Mar-a-Lago, the biggest and most famous mansion in Palm Beach and how Trump ended up getting it for basically peanuts.
Just a few miles away from where we’re staying at The Breakers, the super-opulent Mar-a-Lago mansion and estate, with 119 rooms, including 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms, occupies 19 acres, sprawling from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Worth (“Mar-a-Lago” is Latin for “Sea to Lake”).
Built in the pre-Depression 1920s by one of the world’s richest women, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, married at the time to financier E. F. Hutton (a joining together that today’s Occupiers might refer to as a merger of two one-percenters), the mansion was only a temporary abode, open just six weeks a year, from New Year’s Day into mid-February.
It was picture-perfect for a few weeks of no-shoveling, no-slush wintering. On the ocean side, one of the mansion’s 60 full-time employees could deliver fancy trays of chilled bathroom gin to the beach cabanas (Prohibition, 1920-1933, was in full force when Mar-a-Lago was completed in 1927). And on the lake side, the Sea Cloud, co-owned by Post and Hutton, was waiting at the dock, the largest privately owned sea-going yacht in the world at the time.
Its own stimulus program for Palm Beach, the construction of Mar-a-Lago kept 600 workmen employed for four years — 150 of them transported from Europe to artistically carve the three shiploads of Dorian stone imported from Italy and to perfectly install and flawlessly caulk some 36,000 Spanish tiles, many dating back to the 15th century. The final cost was $2.5 million, back when a new Packard convertible was $1,355.
At her death at 86 in 1973, Ms. Post willed the estate to the U.S. government for use as a winter White House. Less than seven years later, citing security concerns and the mansion’s $1 million-plus yearly maintenance costs, the government returned the property to the Post Foundation.
With Mar-a-Lago mothballed for over a decade and threatened by a wrecking ball, Donald Trump stepped up and paid $10 million for the mansion — not a bad price for 19 waterfront acres in Palm Beach, even without the house. Just down the beach, an empty 1.74 acre lot on the ocean is currently on the market for $25 million.
“As part of the sale, Trump also bought all the furnishings, which in itself, was a fabulous deal,” report George H. Ross and James McLean in their book Trump Strategies for Real Estate. “In fact, when he decided to turn the estate into a country club, he sold some of the antique furnishings that were of museum quality for more than he paid for the entire property.”
Further cashing in, Trump licensed a 75-piece collection of Mar-a-Lago Furniture — not originals or copies, just swanky beds and end tables “inspired” by the estate.
More aggressively, Trump sued the local airport over noise and pollution, seeking to move flight paths away from Mar-a-Lago. He also sued the Town of Palm Beach for $25 million for disallowing the flying of a 15-foot by 25-foot American flag on an 80-foot flagpole at the estate. He also sued the town for $50 million for denying his proposal to subdivide the estate and build eight McMansions on the property. He lost all three cases.
On the controversy of the oversized flag, not all the lucky loungers sitting around the pool at Mar-a-Lago were on Trump’s side. Complained one sunbather who felt quite deprived because of the passing shade, “How are we supposed to get a tan with that stupid flag blocking the sun?”
Palm Beach officials explained that Trump’s flag display violated local zoning codes that prohibited flagpoles taller than 42 feet. Trump had also erected the pole without a building permit and failed to secure a “certificate of appropriateness” from the town’s Landmarks Commission. Additionally, the maximum flag size permitted in Palm Beach is 4-foot by 6-foot.
“You don’t need a permit to put up the American flag,” responded Trump. “The day you need a permit to put up the American flag, that will be a sad day for this country.”
Suggesting that Mr. Trump had dropped below the level of good taste that’s expected in Palm Beach, Lee Hanley, Vice Chairman of the local Landmarks Commission, declared that the over-sized flag display looked like it belonged at “an Okeechobee car dealership,” referring to a strip of car dealerships nearby in less fashionable West Palm Beach.
About the Author
Ralph R. Reiland is the B. Kenneth Simon professor of free enterprise and an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (21) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Ralph R. Reiland
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oldfart| 2.2.12 @ 7:11AM
The Donald always seems to have a knack to tweek the noses of the super pompus.
Jack in Wi.| 2.2.12 @ 7:29AM
Trump, Gingrich, Romney, Adelson, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Ben Bernake etc, all love one quote. " Let them eat cake."
L. Ross| 2.2.12 @ 7:53AM
Sorry, Mr. Reiland, but the double comb over does NOT beat a wig. Most cartoonish hair on the planet. Makes me long for the class of the punk rock spike mohawk.
oldfart| 2.2.12 @ 8:25AM
That was a visual I did not need.
USSAlabama| 2.2.12 @ 8:34AM
I remember ALL of this happening.
Now, news is, Trump will endorse Newt Gingrich for President.
USSAlabama| 2.2.12 @ 11:31AM
A red herring. It's Romney after all.
Anthony| 2.2.12 @ 10:28AM
Trump, the private sector narcissist- in- chief, manages to stay front and center. He must pay his P.R. machine tons of dough.
So the fat toad finally endorsed somebody, and it turned out to be Newt. While I agree with this, I could give a damn what this egotist thinks, unlike Rush, who has found somebody as egotistical as himself, a kindred spirit if there ever was one.
This is another great ploy on the part of Trump, as it insures that we have not heard the end of this POS.
By endorsing Newt, now that he lost Florida, and appears to be DOA, Trump keeps his ongoing threat alive of running 3rd party if the Rs don't pick the right candidate (Newt).
Funny about Trump's timing on this, don't you think?
Hey Donald, we ain't falling for your crap. If Romney is the nominee and you decided to run 3rd party, we will do our best to bankrupt you, (once again). Go away, you loathesome toad!!
Vern Crisler| 2.2.12 @ 11:17AM
Remember, Newt and Santorum agreed to Trump's debate. Romney declined. You think this is not payback? Now Newt may have some cash to counter Romney's carpet bombing, and maybe an aggressive bull-dog of a defender in Trump.
USSAlabama| 2.2.12 @ 11:35AM
It's Romney.
What will that do for Romney? Newt?
Many say it will only help Ron Paul.
Bill| 2.2.12 @ 11:37AM
Trump is the "Kiss of Death."
Anthony| 2.2.12 @ 11:38AM
Trump is a narcissist and a bully. With money, you can threaten your way to what you want with expensive litigation. He with the most money lasts the longest.
Sometimes I agree with Trump's tactics, most of the time I don't.
No wonder Rush is such a suck up to Trump, besides being kindred spirits, Trump has a fancy golf club that he no doubt offered Rush a membership in.
Now the word is no endorsement was made. Ya gotta love how this fat toad plays the media for all it's worth.
Kingofthenet| 2.2.12 @ 12:11PM
Wow Conservatives are enamored by selfish people suing the Citizens(Govt) who would have thought.This is a deed restricted property, it's been priced in by the free market, if you want that type of thing, fine buy it but not in Palm Beach.
Kingofthenet| 2.2.12 @ 12:11PM
Wow Conservatives are enamored by selfish people suing the Citizens(Govt) who would have thought.This is a deed restricted property, it's been priced in by the free market, if you want that type of thing, fine buy it but not in Palm Beach.
Kingofthenet| 2.2.12 @ 12:12PM
Wow Conservatives are enamored by selfish people suing the Citizens(Govt) who would have thought.This is a deed restricted property, it's been priced in by the free market, if you want that type of thing, fine buy it but not in Palm Beach.
littlemike| 2.2.12 @ 2:02PM
Wow, only 4x6 size limit? The flag in front of my house is 8x5, and it's proportional to the house, which is merely a 4-bedroom suburban home, nothing remotely approaching the Donald's casa. Looks like the town goes way overboard in policing "style and taste"! And if some fool cannot find a spot to tan herself in sunny South Florida because of one flag, she flunks the IQ test.
signalfire| 2.2.12 @ 4:55PM
The real t'Rump, a bit of insight here:
http://current.com/community/9.....otland.htm
POST American| 2.2.12 @ 10:20PM
-------------------TRUTH OPENED---------------------
The Globalist RED China handover and TREASON OP
---meets---franchise slum flag fetish.
---------------------CASE CLOSED-----------------------
Sonny119| 2.3.12 @ 12:14AM
Say what you will about Trump personally and politically, but he is definitely a finanical wizard..
shipley130| 2.3.12 @ 1:34PM
The moron that called the US Flag stupid should be punched in the mouth so hard that their teeth fall out.
POST American| 2.3.12 @ 9:16PM
"Notice, that as things get MORE
corrupt, as TREASON gets MORE
open -----MORE flags!"
It's called the 'Tavistock/Stanford
Research FINAL round fetish op'.
YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE