Rejecting traditions that mark the transfer of power between presidents, Donald Trump arrived at his Mar-a-Lago Club resort on Wednesday, ensconcing himself behind the walls of his Mar-a-Lago Club minutes before his term ended and Joe Biden became the commander in chief.
As the nation’s leaders gathered at the Capitol, Air Force One touched down at Palm Beach International Airport, ferrying Trump to Florida for the last time as president.
Supporters had been gathering for hours along Southern Boulevard between the airport and Trump’s Palm Beach resort. His final presidential motorcade inched slowly along the route to Mar-a-Lago as supporters waved signs and cheered.
Many of the former president’s supporters believe his frequently repeated, and untrue, claim that he didn’t really lose the election. Other well-wishers acknowledged the defeat, but said they wanted to show him they were still with him.
Supporters
Trump fans started gathering to welcome him to Florida before Trump left Washington.
Richard Snowden, dressed in a navy-blue suit, red tie, lapel pins and even a spray-on tan, said he traveled from Delaware to watched the president’s last motorcade ride as commander-in-chief. He said he’s attended 74 rallies in 26 states.
Daniel Rakus, a 65-year-old Palm Beach resident who identified himself as a conservative, was an early bird at the Publix supermarket on Southern Boulevard at roughly the midway point between the airport and Palm Beach two hours before Trump’s motorcade passed by.
“We want to show him he’s not alone,” Rakus said. “He did a great job. We support him.”
By the time Trump came by, Rakus was joined by hundreds of people along the street as the presidential motorcade crawled by. In some areas, as many as a quarter of the spectators wore masks to curb the spread of coronavirus; elsewhere there were far fewer mask wearers.
Stacy Schmid waved her arm enthusiastically as the motorcade approached. She said she tried to show up to see Trump during each of his presidential visits, but said Wednesday felt different. As the presidential SUV rolled by, Schmid became emotional, wiping tears from her face as she started to head back to her family waiting nearby on bicycles.
Another person held a banner with an obscenity directed toward Biden. Other signs said, “Praying 4 Trump!” “Thank you. We love you,” “Trump 4 ever my president.”
The song “God Bless the USA” was blaring from speakers on repeat.
Lisa Beche, 53, of Boca Raton, said she appreciated that the motorcade slowed down when passing supporters.
“President Trump knows we had his back from the very beginning, and he proved that he had our back.” She gave high marks to his presidency. “He is one of the best,” Beche said. “For four years, we were listened to. We were heard.”
Thomas Burgess, 35, of West Palm Beach, held a Trump 2024 sign. He said Trump helped to get him out of prison early.
He did eight years in prison for selling crack cocaine but was released in January 2019 after Trump signed the First Step Act. Burgess said he wasn’t supposed to be released until 2025.
“It was all because Trump signed that,” he said. “If he hadn’t signed that, I’d still be in prison.”
One celebrity, who avoided prison because of Trump, was across the street from Publix. Roger Stone of Fort Lauderdale, convicted of felony charges brought by the special counsel investigating the probe of Russian interference, was in West Palm Beach, he said, to show support for Trump. “I came to pay my respects because I love the man,” Stone said. Trump pardoned Stone last month.
Trip home
Air Force One started down the runway at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington at 9 a.m. and was airborne a minute later. At about 10:55 a.m., it touched town at PBIA.
At 11:08 a.m., he emerged with First Lady Melania Trump at his side, waved, and immediately got into the waiting presidential SUV at the bottom of the stairs.
Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Eric Trump and his wife Lara, descended the stairs from Air Force One after Trump got in his SUV. Daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner weren’t on the flight.
The arrival was unusual because of an Air Force One flyover. The presidential jet took a wide swoop over Southern Boulevard and a loop over Trump International Golf Course, where the president has spent a lot of hours on his visits to the area before and during his presidency.
When the presidential aircraft few over, one man along Southern Boulevard yelled excitedly, “Air Force One! Air Force One!” Brief chants arose later. “Never Biden!” one man yelled. “Donald Trump is still my president!” yelled another.
Pro-Trump activists had put out email blasts, including on Wednesday morning, calling for supporters to line Southern Boulevard from the airport to the bridge in West Palm Beach that leads to Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago.
Many supporters showed up, but the route wasn’t packed the entire way. About 1,000 people were on either side of Southern Boulevard from Dixie Highway to the bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway.
Trump savored the final expressions of support.
The motorcade moved unusually slowly — hitting the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway about 11:30 a.m. — but still allowed him to arrive at Mar-a-Lago, nestled between the Intracoastal and the Atlantic Ocean in Palm Beach, while he still was president. He arrived there at 11:37 a.m.
Trump began frequenting Mar-a-Lago long before he became president. Born in Queens, Trump was a life-long New Yorker until 2019, when he declared that Florida would become his residence.
Democratic territory
Charles Zelden, a professor of history and legal studies who specializes in politics and voting at Nova Southeastern University, said any president would receive a welcome-home greeting.
But he said the passion shown by Trump supporters is unusual. “There are a lot of true believers in Florida. For whatever reason, Florida really became Trump country,” Zelden said.
Though Trump supporters are vocal and get lots of attention, they are a minority in South Florida.
Trump won Florida with 51.2% of the vote. But he received just 43.2% in Palm Beach County and 34.7% in Broward.
A few people came out Wednesday to object to Trump and welcome the Biden presidency.
Luis Garcia stood at the corner of Dixie Highway and Southern Boulevard waving a black-and-gold sign that read “Fire Fighters for Biden Harris.”
Garcia, a 54-year-old retired Boynton Beach firefighter and Boynton Beach resident, was alone. Trump supporters didn’t appreciate his sign.
“They’ve been in my face, they’ve been screaming at me, they’ve been yelling at me, and all I’m doing is holding a sign,” said Garcia, who served in the Marines and said he was a lifelong Republican until Trump. “I don’t engage.”
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Broward/Palm Beach County Democrat, marked the day with two early-morning tweets.
“Happy Inauguration Day. Meet me in the land of hope and dreams,” Deutch wrote along with a link to the Bruce Springsteen song. He followed up with by quoting Elvis Costello’s “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?”
“‘So where are the strong and who are the trusted and where is the harmony, sweet harmony?’ Welcome President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris!” Deutch wrote.
U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat who represents South Broward and Miami-Dade County, declared on Twitter: “Oh, happy day!”
Leaving Washington
Trump’s actions on Wednesday serve as the coda to his entire presidency, in which he continually rejected traditions observed by previous presidents. Instead of attending Biden’s inauguration he arranged an early-morning farewell gathering at the base in Maryland, just outside the capital.
The outgoing president arranged for a 21-gun salute from military cannon at JBA, then gave a brief speech.
“This has been an incredible four years. We have accomplished so much together,” he said before rattling off what he said were accomplishments, some of which were factually inaccurate. “What we’ve done has been amazing by any standard.”
He told an audience of 200 to 300 people, few if any were wearing masks, that said he rebuilt the military, helped veterans, created jobs and a record-breaking stock market, and nominated many federal judges plus three Supreme Court justices. He said the achievements wouldn’t have been possible in “a regular administration. We were not a regular administration.”
Trump also thanked his family. “People have no idea how hard this family works. And they work for you. They could have had a much easier life. They did a fantastic job and I’d just like to thank all of you, every one.”
He singled out his wife. “Our first lady has been a woman of great grace, beauty and dignity, and so popular, so popular with the people.” Polling shows Melania Trump leaving with the lowest favorable rating of any first lady in the history of modern polling.
He said he wanted to pay respects to families who suffered from the “China virus,” pointing blame for the devastating effects from the pandemic elsewhere. “We all know where it came from.” He cited the rapid development of a major vaccine.
Trump didn’t mention Biden by name and staked a claim to credit if things go well under Biden.
“I will always fight for you. I will be watching. I will be listening. And I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better. I wish the new administration great luck and great success. I think they’ll have great success. They have the foundation to do something really spectacular,” Trump said. “Just a goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form … Have a good life. We will see you soon.”
The gathering ended the same way as his political rallies: loudspeakers blaring the Village People’s “YMCA” and the president and first lady ascending the stairs to the presidential jet.
Next chapter
Trump’s presence will be felt in South Florida, particularly in Palm Beach County.
But it won’t be nearly as disruptive as the past four years. In a letter to Palm Beach residents from the town manager and police chief, they said they expected restrictions implemented for Trump’s arrival would be the “final road closure near Mar-a-Lago.” It would last several days, they said, adding that “Beyond this, we do not foresee any future road closures related to the presence of a former President.”
Virtually everything else is completely unknown, including critical questions: what kind of force Trump will remain in American life and on the Republican Party and how will his supporters — many of them believe Trump’s untrue claim that he didn’t really lose the election — respond to the Biden presidency and to politics in the future.
“He’ll draw the true believers down to Florida. I think there’s a good chance a lot of his early rallying will be done in Florida,” Zelden said, adding he expects Trump’s supporters to stay devoted. “They are going to rally around their leader.”
Many will undoubtedly continue to believe Biden didn’t really win the election, Zelden said, even though there isn’t evidence the election was stolen. Republican elections officials have said there was no widespread fraud. Federal judges appointed by Trump issued multiple opinions finding there was no basis to the claims of irregularities. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who eagerly championed everything Trump wanted in the last four years, said Biden was the clear, legitimate winner.
“Belief-wise, I don’t think they’re ready to give up on it,” Zelden said. “Nobody likes to admit what they believe in wasn’t true.”
Related questions: Will the news media, which gave him extraordinary attention, continue to give a voice to Trump as former president? Will Trump want or be able to orchestrate primary battles against Republicans he regards as insufficiently supportive disloyal, or will he spend whatever time he isn’t on the golf course dealing with troubles in his business?
“You can’t ignore Donald Trump because there’s millions of people who supported him and not quite as many millions who believe that he legitimately won. As a result, he’s going to be force in politics for a while until those individuals decide to follow someone else or Trump implodes,” Zelden said.
Larry Kosuerg of Palm Beach County said he likes the idea of Trump forming a new political party. “The Republican Party will never recover,” Kosuerg said. “I don’t believe I will ever vote Republican again. The GOP is finished. We need to see a third party.” Some of the former president’s supporters brought “Trump Pence 2020” flags — with a thick black line drawn through the former vice president’s name.
Stone’s view: “I think [Trump] made it pretty clear in his farewell speech he’s not going away as a political force. We all want the country to do better no matter who the president is, so I wish President Biden the best of luck,” Stone said, before attacking the new president. “High taxes, more regulation, more shutdown; not sure how that’s going to help the economy, but we pray for the best because we’re Americans first.”
Though many Democrats, and some Republicans, would like Trump to simply “go away, he’s not going to. He still has a base.”
State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, a Republican from Lake County in Central Florida who is a master of generating publicity, suggested an homage to Trump. He said Tuesday he would sponsor legislation to rename U.S. 27, which spans the state from Miami to the Georgia border, as the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”
Staff photographer Joe Cavaretta contributed to this report.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @browardpolitics
