If you read a lot of articles about politics — which I do — you will begin to notice a familiar pattern in stories about candidates for Republican nominations: Many of them, at some point, mention Mar-a-Lago.
In the event that you’ve just returned from a multiyear intergalactic spaceflight, I will inform you that Mar-a-Lago is the Florida resort owned by former president Donald Trump. (Oh: Trump was president for a while, Madame Astronaut.) Once just another part of the expansive Trump Organization real estate portfolio, Mar-a-Lago is now Trump’s official home. And, conveniently for both Trump and the Trump Organization, it is also a venue at which prospective or established political entities can pay money to host events.
And that’s been happening a lot.
When Trump was president, it was common for him, his staff, Republican candidates and officials and even government departments to spend money at Trump Organization properties. Supplicants saw visits to Trump properties as a way to build confidence with Trump, probably accurately. Even in the infamous call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July 2019 that led to Trump’s first impeachment, Zelensky — hoping for a public blessing from the American president — pointed out that he’d stayed in a Trump hotel during a visit to New York. (Oh: Trump was also impeached twice.)
Data compiled by ProPublica shows that the Trump post-presidency hasn’t looked much different. Non-Trump and non-Republican National Committee political action committees are still spending nearly as much at Trump properties as they did in the 2019-2020 election cycle, but with a difference.
In the 2018 cycle, about 2 percent of spending was at Mar-a-Lago, with far more spending at places such as the Trump hotel in D.C., where incumbent Republicans could hold quick fundraisers. In the 2020 cycle, about 13 percent of non-Trump and non-RNC spending was at Mar-a-Lago. Since the 2020 election, though, more than $4 out of every $10 spent at Trump properties is spent at Mar-a-Lago — to the tune of $190,000.
And why not? If you want Trump’s endorsement, you go to his house. And then you rent out his house for your fundraiser. And maybe Trump shows up and pumps his fist and talks about voter fraud and everyone’s happy. It happens over and over again.
Here, I’ll show you. This is data from the Federal Election Commission. Spending by Trump’s campaign and PACs are in red; RNC spending is in gray. Those black circles? That’s other candidates and PACs spending money at Mar-a-Lago. Since the 2020 election, it’s been a blizzard.
There were a lot of reasons for Trump to move to Florida after serving as president, from legal pressure he faced in New York to simply following a well-established pattern for New York retirees. But, intentionally or not, it’s been a boon in another way, too. Still the GOP kingmaker, he was able to establish a system where people not only visited to seek out his endorsement but could put money in his pocket while doing so.
This will probably not surprise our returning astronaut.
