Florida, the golden refuge of Donald Trump
After leaving the White House, the tycoon leaves New York for tax reasons and entrenches himself in the favorite Republican arcade of billionaires
The boardwalk is called Ocean Boulevard, although it is better known as the billionaires mile. More than a ride, it is a two-lane road where classic jaguars and convertible corvettes parade with parsimony. The drivers are middle-aged white men, patricians with enviable half-gray hair and a Richard Gere tan in American Gigolo. If you look to the side you have the water of the Atlantic. On the other, its colonial villas and empire-style mansions.
Palm Beach, an island in southern Florida, is home to the summer residences of some of the richest men on the planet. Most of them are low-key moguls from the world of finance and real estate, owners of casinos and football teams. In the 1980s, Donald Trump also bought a mansion on this very expensive piece of land that he transformed into an elite private club. Since this Wednesday, outside of the White House, it has become his official residence, also saying goodbye to his controversial adventures on Fifth Avenue in New York.
The last Airforce one flight with Trump on board landed at 11:00 a.m. at Palm Beach International Airport. He had only one hour left as president and he took advantage of it by giving himself a crowd bath. More than a hundred followers were waiting for him in the street before crossing the bridge that connects the peninsula with the island, closed to the public hours before. The caravan with the familiar entourage moved slowly along the asphalt. From the back seat and with the window up of the imposing armored cadillac that he had built during his tenure, Trump greets his supporters: "I love you." "God bless you". There were cries of ecstasy and rage, tears and grief during the last minutes of the Republican magnate's presidency.
The day before, the few non-motorized humans who roamed the Billionaires' Promenade were running at a light jog in sportswear and headphones on. Few stop to answer questions. The only ones who grant anything are tourists. Suart Miller, 59, is a New Yorker and a builder like Trump and has come to see relatives. “This is the safest and most beautiful place in the world. That is why people are fleeing the communist demons of New York. I understand him and I would also do the same if I could ”.
Trump can, but his flight is prodigious. With a handful of open court investigations in Manhattan, Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared him persona non grata in New York two years ago. The tension continued to grow with his deranged castling accusing Joe Biden's victory as fraudulent, until he reached the climax with his harangue to the robbers of the Capitol two weeks ago at the hands of his most ultras followers. Recent events have left Trump more lonely and weakened than ever. Expelled from social networks, discredited by other international leaders, with a second impeachment process open in Congress, repudiated even by the Republican establishment and also abandoned by classic allies such as the conservative chain Fox.
The first New York president since Democrat Theodore Roosevelt has decided to escape the Big Apple and has chosen the same refuge as the only president in the country's history to resign, Republican Richard Nixon. That destination is Florida, a kind of capitalist arcade, the golden Republican that for more than 25 years has not seen a Democratic governor. The key state that tipped the balance in 2016 in its battle against Hillary Clinton and where last year the tycoon won again, almost tripling the difference in votes with his opponent.
Trump moves to South Florida, less than an hour and a half drive from Miami, the capital of show business and kitsch culture, with permission from Las Vegas. The land of real estate pitch and elephant retreat for celebrities and billionaires. The headquarters of the hard core of anti-Castroism and anti-Chavismo, where his electoral discourse of the "communist demons" has most penetrated. And where the nonsense denial of the covid-19 caused the State (21 million inhabitants) to have more infections in July than Spain and Italy, which together add up to 107 million inhabitants.
Trump made his change of residence public in November 2019. "I appreciate the people of New York," he said at the time. “I will always love you despite paying millions in municipal, state and local taxes. But unfortunately the political leaders have treated me very badly ”. That is the prosaic reason for his move. Florida is one of seven states in the country where income taxes are not paid. In addition, by abandoning his opulent Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue as a tax headquarters, the businessman will avoid the 9% tax that is applied in New York and will save 4% in municipal taxes.
He is not the only New Yorker moving his primary residence to Florida. Removals for tax reasons have grown over the last four years, coinciding with the entry into force of the tax reform that the Republican imposed since the presidency and that eliminated a juicy series of local and state deductions. The change of residence should not affect, in any case, the ongoing lawsuits that he has in the Big Apple. The Manhattan Prosecutor's Office is investigating his tax history and, after winning the appeal before the Supreme Court, he will have access to eight years of tax returns from the tycoon, within an investigation into possible payments to women to silence alleged infidelities during the 2016 campaign , and about possible tax fraud. Additionally, New York prosecutor Laetitia James is exploring possible charges against her construction company for altering the real value of her assets to obtain loans.
Trump the pioneer
Off the billionaires' mile and on the way to one of the four bridges that connect the island of Palm Beach to the mainland, the neighborhood remains residential. But now the neighbors are tax lawyers, investment funds and private banking offices. The Guardian Angels of the Great Wealth: PNC Wealth Management, TD Wealth. Wilmington Trust, JP Morgan Private Bank, Cypress Trust Company. All in just a couple of blocks.
Down one of the streets, an old woman wearing a white hat is carrying her poodle, also white, in a baby carriage. “I am delighted that Trump is coming to live. Here he is finally going to have freedom. They have attacked him like no other president in history. And he is only guilty of being a good patriot who loves his country. " The lady's reflection summarizes two of the keys to Trump's escape: victimhood and redemption. After the fall of the horse, Florida, one of the last territories acquired by the US, still represents the land of second chances in the mythical American imagination. A kind of wild south, still a land of pioneers and eccentric adventurers.
“Florida is not worth it. It is a land of swamps, toads, crocodiles and mosquitoes. No one would emigrate there, not even if they came out of hell! ”Predicted in 1819 a veteran deputy. A scenario that fits with the figure that Trump has built of himself and, by extension, of the entire country. With his fake cowboy victimizing tale that he has achieved everything thanks to his efforts, always besieged by enemies who conspire against his deserved good star and against whom only a heavy hand is possible.
The weapons of these new pioneers in Florida are largely tax benefits. Trump will also not pay for his inheritance the 16% established in New York when it exceeds 10 million dollars. Also, like the ancient settlers, he too will take his family with him. His son Donald Trump Junior and his girlfriend are already looking at houses in Jupiter, about 12 miles from Palm Beach. While Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, both advisers to the White House during the four years of the mandate, have just bought land from Julio Iglesias in Indian Creek, the exclusive private island near Miami where Jay-Z and Beyoncé live or American football star Tom Brady.
