EXCLUSIVE: Trump will head north for summer at his Bedminster golf club this SUNDAY after Mar-a-Lago Mother's Day brunch - and make New Jersey the new focal point of Republican politics
Former President Donald Trump will move his political and fundraising base to his New Jersey golf club for the summer after attending a Mother's Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, according to sources familiar with the plans.
It puts him close to New York's financial center and within helicopter distance of glitzy parties, where billionaires rub shoulders during the Hamptons summer season.
And it means Bedminster, Trump's championship golf course, will become the center of operations as his allies plot against their enemies in the Republican party.
Trump has spent the past three and a half months plotting his future and playing golf at his West Palm Beach golf club, where he was spotted last month playing with Rep. Jim Jordan
'The main house will close till the fall and the Trumps will depart to spend the summer at their club in Bedminster,' he said.
Florida Republican operative Larry Casey said Trump was a creature of habit.
'It's what he has done for 20 years – spend the winter in Florida and then go back north,' he said.
Trump will fly to Trump National Golf Club, New Jersey, after spending the past three and a half months in Florida where he has built his new political base
Instead of beating a path to Mar-a-Lago for an audience with Trump, he added, ambitious Republicans will head to his New Jersey golf club at Bedminster.
'All these people will want to have fundraisers for their campaigns and they'll want to be at Donald Trump's Bedminster club,' he said.
'And you'll get the big financial wizards from New York City who can visit for the day instead of having to stay overnight in Florida.'
The Mother's Day brunch is the last event at Mar-a-Lago before the club closes for the summer.
Trump addresses a 2018 dinner with business leaders at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. His wife Melania and son-in-law Jared Kushner are both pictured
Palm Beach's ritzy clubs, which guests pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to join, close down for much of the hot summer. Sunday's Mother's Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago (pictured) is the final event at Trump's winter home before closing
Trump offered a farewell of sorts last week.
'So I just want to thank everybody,' he said at an event to endorse Missouri Rep. Billy Long. 'This is sort of a close-out. Now we go through the summer. We'll be back here in October, maybe a little bit sooner.'
Trump offered a farewell of sorts last week.
'I just want to thank everybody,' he said during an event to endorse Missouri Rep. Billy Long. 'This is sort of a close-out. Now we go through the summer. We'll be back here in October, maybe a little bit sooner.'
Many of Palm Beach's well-heeled winter residents have already left, following their annual pattern of summering in California or other cooler spots further north.
Trump has made Mar-a-Lago club his operational headquarters since leaving office in January.
A small team flew south with him from Washington to build out a new political operation, plotting how to raise a war chest and spend it during next year's mid-term elections.
Trump has frequently teased the possibility of running for the White House in 2024 but aides say a decision is unlikely before they have gauged the political currents in the 2022 House and Senate campaigns.
The former president has spent much of the past three and a half months at his nearby golf course in West Palm Beach, playing rounds with senior Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, and those considering their own 2024 run, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
And Mar-a-Lago itself has become the destination of choice for allies seeking his endorsement as they try to depose elements in the party that Trump feels failed to defend him in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary who is running to become governor of Arkansas, held a fundraiser at the club in March; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had lunch with the former president there in January; and Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, seen as another 2024 contender, also had a fundraising event.
This week Sen. Ted Cruz posted a photograph of himself having dinner with Trump.
Ted Cruz is just the latest in a long list of senior Republicans to have beaten a path to Mar-a-Lago as Trump built his new political base in Florida
Such has been the buzz at high-profile sightings, that members of both Mar-a-Lago and the golf club have been told that joining fees will be hiked. Two golf club sources said the initiation was expected to more than double to $350,000.
Now the focus shifts to his Bedminster golf club.
Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran political operative in New York, said it was like a 'government in exile' moving north.
'There's a lot of money here. Is there money for everyone? Maybe,' he said. 'His favorables in New York polling are lousy but he has a loyal following among New York money guys.
'The question is whether they are too embarrassed to donate, whether they believe the rightful government was deposed, or whether they are in revolt against the Biden tax plan.'
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