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Who is currently in charge in the US? Jill Biden? Kamala Harris? President on paper Joe Biden? Or is it actually President-elect Donald Trump? Many signs point to the latter, not least the undeniable reality that the center of American political power has already shifted about 1,000 miles south: from the grand neoclassical designs of the White House and Capitol to the Gilded Age-meets-Louisa-XIV shrine of Mar-a-Lago.
When Marjorie Merriweather Post—the breakfast cereal heiress who commissioned the resort in Florida a century ago—left Mar-a-Lago to the federal government upon her death in 1973, the administration at the time decided it wasn’t worth the trouble or expense. The property was returned to the Post Foundation, which sold it to Trump in 1985. He turned it into a private members’ club in 1994. But Post’s idea that it should become the “Winter White House” finally became a reality during the 45th president’s first term in office. And despite the fact that he’s not yet 47, the description seems more apt now than ever.
In recent weeks, a steady stream of billionaires, politicians and other forms of power brokers and sycophants have passed through the Palm Beach Palace. Elon Musk seems to have set up camp there semi-permanently. Techno-romance venture capitalist Marc Andreessen says that – as an altruist – he spends half his time at the club “help”. They were Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Treasurer Nick Candy pictured, smiling next to Musk.
And why not? I was inside Mar-a-Lago several times and, contrary to popular opinion, it is mostly very tasty. Trump is praised by members and local residents for preserving the original features. Man does not see ketchup dripping down the walls. The only signs that you’re on his property – and not some other flashy private club – are the “TRUMP” WI-FI network; The TRUMP coat of arms (changed from INTEGRITAS when he took office) emblazoned on everything from napkins to doormats; framed magazine covers on the walls of the hall; and, yes, that quite a flattering portrait in the bar.
Trump instinctively understands what other politicians struggle to get their head around, including power how things are look. And a gorgeous private members’ club on a pristine, sun-dappled strip of land dotted with palm trees is an inviting invitation — even for the already very wealthy (even if the menu and music selection haven’t changed in about two decades, members tell me).
He understands that the flashy background for announcements and interviews makes him look presidential even when he’s not in power. Indeed, you only need to glance at the towering Trump Tower in Manhattan, with its 34-inch-tall brass letters above the entrance, to see how powerfully the former entrepreneur uses architecture as propaganda.
This thought occurred to me while watching the screening of the film stardust, divan new documentary about postmodern architectural power couple Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (I moderated a conversation at the Barbican with the directors, one of whom is the son of Venturi and Scott Brown). “It’s all propaganda,” says Scott Brown in the film, mischievously comparing ancient Greek temples to Las Vegas billboards. “Would you rather sell faith or soap? I would take the soap.”
What exactly the American right has been trying to sell in its crusade against modern architecture over the past few years is an intriguing question. Earlier this year, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson went on In the style of Roger Scruton rant about how “postmodern” architecture is “designed to demoralize and . . . destroy your spirit.”
And in 2020, Trump himself signed, the man who got rich building skyscrapers executive order stipulating that all new federal buildings must be “beautiful.” The order (which Biden later rescinded) also condemned the “incongruous mix of classical and modernist design” seen in many federal buildings—perhaps an odd complaint from a man who has Apartment in the style of Versailles in the penthouse of a skyscraper, but then Trump never worries too much about consistency.
It all boils down to selling the idea that traditional conservative values are the only thing that can save America and nostalgia for a country that no longer exists. I understand the idea that buildings should be beautifulalthough I do not believe that Trump’s promised “golden age of America” will come true. With his gilded Winter White House, however, he can pretend he can in the face of influence peddlers and oligarchs who greedily circle around him. For them, indeed, it already is.
