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Who is in charge now in the US? Jill Biden? Kamala Harris? Paper president Joe Biden? Or is it actually president-elect Donald Trump? Many signs point to the latter, not the undeniable fact that the center of American political power has moved nearly 1,000 miles to the south: from the grand designs of the neoclassical of the White House and Capitol to the gilded-meets-Louis. -XIV Mar-a-Lago sanctuary.
When Marjorie Merriweather Post – the breakfast cereal heiress who ordered the Florida resort a century ago – left Mar-a-Lago for the federal government after her death in 1973, The management of the time decided that it was not useful or cost effective. The property was returned to the Post Foundation, which sold it to Trump in 1985. He turned it into a private ownership group in 1994. But the Post’s idea that it should become the “Winter White House” ended up falling through. completed during the first term of the 45th president in office. And despite the fact that it is not yet the 47th, the explanation now seems more appropriate than ever.
In recent weeks, a steady stream of billionaires, politicians and other types of power brokers and sycophants have passed through the Palm Beach mansion. It looks like Elon Musk is down there forever. The technology of love entrepreneur Marc Andreessen says that he – – is not selfish – spends half of his time in the group to “help”. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and treasurer Nick Candy were picture there, smiling next to Musk.
And why didn’t they? I have been there inside Mar-a-Lago several times and, contrary to popular belief, most of it is very pleasant. Trump is praised by members and local residents for keeping the original features. One cannot see ketchup dripping from the walls. The only signs that you are on his property – rather than any shiny private club – are the “TRUMP” WI-FI network; the TRUMP coat of arms (changed from INTEGRITAS when he took over) emblazoned on everything from napkins to doorknobs; frame magazine covers the walls of the entrance hall; and, yes, that smooth picture in the bar.
Trump understands innately what other politicians struggle to do, including the power of how things are look. And a beautiful private members’ club in a pristine, sunny, palm-dotted setting is an inviting invitation – even for the already super-rich (even if the menu and music selection unchanged for about twenty years, as members tell me).
He understands that having announcements and discussions makes him appear as the president even when he is in power. Indeed, you only have to look at Trump Tower in Manhattan, with its 34-inch-high brass letters above the entrance, to see how powerfully the former property developer uses architecture as a lie.
This thought occurred to me while watching the screening of Stardust, exciting a new documentary about the constructive power of postmodernist Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (I was conducting interviews with directors at the Barbican, one of whom is Venturi and Scott Brown’s son). “It’s all a lie,” Scott Brown says in the film, slyly comparing ancient Greek temples to Las Vegas billboards. “Would you rather be sold religion or soap?” I would want soap.”
The question of what exactly the American right has been trying to sell in its fight against modern architecture for the past few years is fascinating. Earlier this year, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson attended Roger Scruton-esque comments on how “postmodern” architecture is “intended to subvert and . . . destroy your soul.”
And in 2020 Trump himself, the man who made the blocks for his treasure tower, signed executive order which mandates that all new government buildings must be “good”. The order (which was later revoked by Biden) also criticized the “incongruous mix of old and modern architecture” seen in many government buildings – an odd complaint, perhaps, from a man with and A Versailles-style apartment in a skyscraper penthouse, but now Trump you never worry too much about stability.
It has come down to selling the idea that conventional wisdom is the only thing that can save America, and patriotism that no longer exists. I have sympathy with that idea the buildings should be beautifulalthough I do not believe that Trump’s promise of a “golden age of America” will come true. However, with his decorated Winter White House, he is able to pretend that he has the influence of merchants and oligarchs who surround him with greed so that they can. To them, of course, it already is.
