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Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
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 least the undeniable fact that the center of American political power has changed about 1,000 kilometers to the south: from the grand neoclassical design of the White House and the Capitol to the gilded-age-meets-Louis. -XIV is the sanctuary of Mar-a-Lago.
When Marjorie Merriweather Post – the breakfast cereals heiress who commissioned the resort in Florida a century ago – left Mar-a-Lago to the federal government after her death in 1973, management then decided it wasn't worth the trouble or expense. The estate was returned to the Post Foundation, which sold it to Trump in 1985. He converted it to a private members club in 1994. But the Post's idea that it should be a “winter White House” was finally made a reality during the first term of the 45th president in office. And although he is not yet 47, the information now seems more relevant than ever.
In recent weeks, a constant stream of billionaires, politicians and other forms of power brokers and sycophants have passed through the Palm Beach palace. Elon Musk seems to be resting there permanently. Techno-love Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen says – how serious – he spends half his time at the club “to help”. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and treasurer Nick Candy attended pictured there, smiling next to Musk.
And why wouldn't they? I have been inside Mar-a-Lago a few times and, contrary to popular belief, it is mostly very tasty. Trump is praised by members and local residents for keeping the original features. One sees no ketchup dripping down the walls. The only signs of being on his property – rather than any other glittering private club – is the “TRUMP” WI-FI network; the TRUMP coat of arms (changed from INTEGRITAS when it took over) is emblazoned on everything from napkins to doormats; a framed magazine covers the walls of the entry hall; and, yes, that thin image at the bar.
Trump automatically understands what other politicians struggle to get their heads around, including power how are things look. And a beautiful private members' club in a clean, sunny, palm-tree-dotted setting is an attractive invitation – even to the already rich (and even the menu and music selection haven't changed in nearly two decades, as members tell me).
He realizes that having a brilliant background in announcements and interviews makes him look like a president when he is not yet in power. Well, you only have to look at the towering Trump Tower in Manhattan, with its 34-inch tall bronze letter above the entrance, to see just how powerful the former real estate developer is using design as propaganda.
This thought came to me while watching a screening of Stardust, which is fun new documentary about the postmodernist architectural power-couple Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (I moderated a discussion at the Barbican with directors, one of whom is Venturi and Scott Brown's son). “It's all propaganda,” Scott Brown says in the film, wrongly comparing ancient Greek temples to the skyscrapers of Las Vegas. Would you rather be sold on religion or soap? I was going to need some soap.”
The question of what exactly the American right has been trying to sell in its current military buildup over the last few years is an interesting one. Earlier this year, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson went to Roger Scruton-esque He explores how “postmodern” architecture is “designed to soothe and . . . destroy your spirit.”
And in 2020 Trump himself, the man who made his fortune building tower blocks, signed executive order stipulates that all new federal buildings must be “beautiful”. The order (later rescinded by Biden) also criticized the “incongruous mix of ancient and modern architecture” seen in many federal buildings—an unusual complaint, perhaps, from a man with A Versailles-style residence in a skyscraper penthouse, but then Trump never worry too much about compatibility.
It comes down to selling the idea that traditional conservative values are the only thing that can save America, and nostalgia for a country that is gone. I am sympathetic to the idea of being the buildings must be beautifulalthough I do not believe that Trump's “golden age of America” will happen. With his decorated Winter White House, however, he pretends to have the influence of businessmen and oligarchs who are greedy for power. For them, in fact, it already exists.