Donald Trump takes refuge in his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida
Trump planned a farewell act with all the pomp - red carpet, military band and 21 salutes of rigor - but the Pentagon has tried to limit its collaboration in the "alternative" event as much as possible.
Donald Trump is no longer in the White House. The president of the United States has made his last flight in the presidential plane Air Force One, bound for his new residence in Palm Beach, in the state of Florida, where he is already entrenched in his new headquarters in Mar- a-Lake. There he will rehearse the 'swing' at will under the human and political warmth of Florida, the 'Trumpist' state par excellence.
Trump has left alone. Not a single senior official in his government has gone to fire him either at the White House, from where he left by helicopter, or at Andrews Air Base, from where he took off the plane.
Donald Trump has had his first post-presidency luncheon and is beginning to measure up to his new life. From Florida, and while the 'impeachment' process is still open in the Senate, the former president hopes to relaunch his political career by taking advantage of the political backing (and millionaire support) of his supporters in the 'sunny state'. Upon his arrival, he received the support of hundreds of supporters.
Although not all of his neighbors have received him with open arms. Nacy S DeMoss, who lives on the neighboring property, has written through her attorney to the Palm Beach City Council recalling that the Mar-a-Lago use agreement, dated 1993, stipulates that it is a social club and that it cannot be used as a habitual residence.
The former president has a reputation as a "litigator" with the City Council. In 2016, he was charged with a "violation" (with a fine of $ 1,250 a day) for installing a giant 15 by 7.6 American flag inside the property that violated a local ordinance on maximum flag sizes. Trump took legal action on his behalf and ultimately reached a settlement.
In 1995, 2010 and 2015, a year before being elected president, Trump tried to denounce Palm Beach County for the noise coming from the international airport, where he himself landed on Wednesday. While he was president, the routes were diverted for security reasons. Now that he has ceased to be, the planes can return to their original route.
FAREWELL 'A HIT' FROM MITIN
True to his style, the president has said goodbye with a rally. The 'Marine One', his helicopter, landed in Andrews to the rhythm of the success of the disco music 'Gloria', by Umberto Tozzi, one of the songs that usually sound at the beginning of their electoral acts. The president lowered the aircraft, accompanied by his wife, Melania, to the beat of 'Don't Stop Believin', a song that introduced a more guitar touch in what seemed like a tribute to the eighties album.
Next, Trump spoke to a small group of fans and left the stage with the song 'YMCA', by the also eighties pop group 'The Village People'. With military precision, the Andrews loudspeakers played the hit of Frank Sinatra My Way as Air Force One took off. Everything had, therefore, the institutional solidity of the final episode of the season of a reality show.
In his brief address to his followers, Trump did not disappoint. His speech could have been that of a head of state who leaves office after losing an election or that of a candidate for the Iowa primaries, something in keeping with the soundtrack. Trump celebrated the rise in the stock market, said that we have done "incredible things", and affirmed that the discovery of the vaccine against Covid-19 "has been a medical miracle." They said it would take 9 years, 5 years, and It has taken 9 months. "He only needed to put on the red cap with the legend MAGA ('Make America Great Again').
After such an institutional ceremony, Trump and Melania boarded Air Force One, which took off while Sinatra sang that "I did it my way."
Donald Trump had today summoned dozens of followers to a farewell ceremony at the Andrews military base, 20 kilometers from Washington, at eight in the morning (two in the afternoon in Spain), four hours before Joe's inauguration. Biden. Trump planned an act with all the pomp - red carpet, military band and 21 salutes of rigor - but the Pentagon has tried to limit its collaboration in the "alternative" event as much as possible.
The outgoing president faced the empty seats in farewell to him, faced with defections in his own ranks. Vice President Mike Pence declined the invitation, as did former chief of staff John Kelly. Several of his former aides who were lightly fired - from former security adviser John Bolton to former communications chief Anthony Scaramucci - received invitations at the last minute, demonstrating the Republican's desperation to fill the capacity.
The attendees - among which dozens of grassroots militants will also be counted - had been summoned an hour before under polar temperatures and went through a strict security device. All of them under the slogan: forbidden to carry weapons or ammunition.
Although other presidents such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan were also fired with military rigors at the Andrews base, the ceremonies were in any case discreet and after the inauguration of their successors, which they attended as tradition dictates.
Donald Trump is the fourth president in the history of the United States to stand up to his successor. The last precedent was 1869, when Andrew Johnson (the first president to face precisely an "impeachment") refused to attend the inauguration of Ulysses Grant in the first elections of the era of Reconstruction.
A FORTIFIED CAPITOL
Trump's absence from Biden's inauguration, which takes place at noon in a fortified Capitol after the January 6 "assault" and with 25,000 soldiers patrolling the streets of Washington, has created serious logistical problems for the Pentagon.
After his farewell ceremony, Trump climbs for the last time with his wife Melania on Air Force One bound for Palm Beach, where his Mar-a-Lago mansion is located. The tycoon carries on board the "nuclear briefcase" with the card that will automatically deactivate at 11:59:59, the time when JoeBiden's cookie will be activated, who will receive a second briefcase in Washington (there are three in total).
The outgoing president has unleashed all possible rumors at the last minute about his return to the political scene. "The movement has only just begun," he said in his farewell speech. "America has given me a lot, and I plan to give it something in return," he anticipated.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump has spoken these days with his most direct collaborators about the possibility of leaving the Republican Party and founding his own Patriot Party. The last-minute pardon to his former strategist Steve Bannon is interpreted as a nod to embark on his new political endeavor.
