Now, there is only the sitting president’s conflicting financial interest 1,000 miles south of the seat of government. In contrast to the homes of his predecessors, Trump’s ostentatious club is a commercial enterprise featuring guest suites, ballrooms, dining, a beach, pools, a spa, tennis courts, a “chip and putt” course, a fitness center and access to his affiliated golf courses. The phrase “Southern White House” is a transparent marketing pitch, connoting the availability of access to power for a price. Interested parties — be they captains of industry or agents of hostile foreign governments — can buy insider access to a place the president frequents. The initiation fee, which Trump doubled upon winning the election, is $200,000. He may belong to the people now, but the club belongs to him. Prospective purchasers can rest assured that their cash will still reach him.
This “Southern White House” branding is part of a broader effort that aims to lend official sanction to the president’s properties. When a lobbyist announced at a White House meeting that he was a member of one of Trump’s clubs, Trump responded, “Very good, very good.” Hope Hicks once masterfully pitched Mar-a-Lago’s link to government as the fulfillment of destiny, writing in an email to a reporter that, “[T]he president looks forward to using the property as the Southern White House, as it was intended to be.”
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I would say Trump is getting the kind of advertising money can’t buy, but we taxpayers are paying tens of millions for him to spend almost a third of his days in office visiting his properties. Some of the money goes into his pocket. We learned last fall that the Secret Service had paid him over $150,000 in golf cart rental fees for the privilege of guarding his life while he golfs. Last month, Public Citizen issued a report finding that Trump’s businesses had billed $15.1 million to campaign, political committee and federal government sources since he first launched his presidential campaign.
The spectacle of businesses, industry associations, politicians, political groups, charities and even countries booking events at his properties suggests that they are using his businesses to ingratiate themselves with him. Even if any have innocent motives, the appearance problem undermines government legitimacy all the same. Trump certainly hasn’t discouraged anyone looking to curry his favor. His businesses don’t refuse service to foreign governments. He has not pledged to stop visiting his properties, nor has he forbid his appointees from attending events at them. The White House doesn’t decline meetings with visitors who stay in his nearby Washington hotel, and sightings of White House staffers at the hotel’s bar are now commonplace.