In January, the 45th president left the country in the kind of shambles he usually reserves for the companies and development projects he’s involved in. Very quickly, it became apparent that GOP leadership, while feinting to once again dismiss Trump and return to their established forms of corruption, were going to remain beholden to the Donald’s more blunt version of Republican corruption. Heading down to his private resort Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, stories have steadily leaked out about Trump’s time spent trying not to end up in jail in New York, where he faces serious investigations into his business and campaign’s practices.
But the information out of Mar-a-Lago has been muted by the fact that Donald Trump is a lazy person. He’s always been a lazy person—his entire job as president consisted of him either playing golf or lying in his bed tweeting out attacks on people, places, and things. Unfortunately for the stubby-fingered one, Twitter banned him from using the platform. Donald isn’t particularly interested—at least at this point in time—in running around throwing Third Reich-style rallies. Maybe he’s taking a break from the B12 shots? According to Bloomberg, the Donald is being “bathed in adulation” while he walks around his private club, where the guests pay to be in his presence.
It’s this constant stream of hermetically sealed praise from the vapid and craven resort guests that Trump seems to seek out now that he isn’t in office anymore. In fact, according to Bloomberg, “He’ll show up to anything. In recent weeks, Trump has popped into engagement parties and memorial services. A Mar-a-Lago member who recently attended a club gathering for a deceased friend was surprised when Trump sauntered in to deliver remarks and then hung around, apparently enjoying himself.”
Trump spending most of his time at one of his golf outfits really isn’t surprising. The twice-impeached politician spent most of his time at golf courses he owned while he was in office. He also made sure that the American taxpayers forked over millions to support his golf habit while in office. The fact that Trump is now out of office makes no difference to the quality of Trump’s mind or what he believes to be leadership. Remember, as Americans began to die from COVID-19, Trump made sure to keep up with his leisurely golfing schedule.
Looking super “relaxed” and “comfortable” as always
Golfing isn’t simply an escape for Trump, it’s the place where he pretends he’s escaping. To be clear, it’s an act. Trump’s golf prowess is pedestrian at best, and marked by well-documented cheating. His cheating is a symptom of someone so insecure that he must lie not only to others, but to himself in order to get by in the delusion that he’s above average in any way.
But as delusional as the Donald may be, his ability to draw the most craven and corrupt among us remains very real. Bloomberg points out that an entire garbage can orbit of conservative scumbags have made sure they can physically remain within his vicinity.
When Trump ventured south, a stream of family members (literal and figurative) followed. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner bought a $32 million waterfront lot in Miami from the Latin crooner Julio Iglesias and enrolled their kids at a nearby Jewish day school. Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, bought a $9.7 million mansion in Jupiter, Fla. In December, Sean Hannity sold his penthouse not far from former House speaker—and Trump critic—John Boehner’s place along the Gulf of Mexico and bought a $5.3 million seaside home two miles from Mar-a-Lago, symbolically swapping the Boehner Coast for the Trump Coast. Hannity’s Fox News colleague Neil Cavuto joined him, buying a $7.5 million place nearby. “Think about how utterly bizarre that is,” says Eddie Vale, a Democratic strategist. “It’s like if Rachel Maddow and the Pod Save America guys all bought condos in Chicago because they wanted to be close to Barack Obama.”
Like most narcissistic despot wannabes, Donald just believes that his presence and the words coming out of his mouth are the most sage advice available to people in any given room with him. Like most narcissistic despot wannabes, Donald suspects everyone knows he’s an imposter, afraid and insecure and ultimately miserable because he can’t figure out how to shake the creeping feeling that he’s the failure his parents likely told him he was.