An airport renamed in his honor, a data center rejected, a proposed golf course retreatcheered, his endorsed congressional candidates in dogfights — President Donald Trump's expected return to the Palm Beaches comes with his stamp on his adopted home county still to be decided.
A presidential-level "VIP" alert sent out Oct. 12 by federal aviation authorities suggests the president may make his 28th visit this term to the Winter White House in Palm Beach at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, Oct. 16-18.
If so, it will be the first time Trump lands at the renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport. The rebrand took place on July 9, two months after Trump's last Mar-a-Lago sojourn in May. And it may be the first time people across Palm Beach County
see the famed, and infamous, Air Force One plane gifted to Trump by the Qatari government.
The potential weekend visit comes roughly a month since Trump offered to "gift" the nation a Camp David-like presidential retreat at his Trump International Golf Club a few miles west of Mar-a-Lago. Details of the facility are still to be determined but initial talks between county officials and the lawyer representing Trump, Harvey Oyer, have started.
In other areas, however, the president's legacy in the county is mired in a rough patch.
County commissioners in July rejected approving a proposed data center despite Trump's adamant they be built all over the United States and his warning to communities that they risk becoming "backwards and poor" by rejecting the hyperscale facilities. The planned Project Tango data center is now mired in a legal battle.
While Gov. Ron DeSantis dutifully complied with the president's demand that states redraw congressional districts to favor House Republicans' control on Capitol Hill, the ploy's success is very much in question locally ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm voting. Trump-endorsed GOP nominees in two Palm Beach County districts are in toss-up races, according to the highly-watched Cook Political Report.
Will Trump have say in fate of Kimberly Guilfoyle, son's ex-fiancée?
The president's potential visit would come after a high-profile decision. Reports said that Trump has asked his ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to resign after a series of embarrassing disclosures about her conduct and finances.
What's next for Guilfoyle, who was formerly engaged to Donald Trump Jr., is uncertain. The Palm Beach Post reported in August that the president's eldest son paid Guilfoyle $7.6 million for her share of the Jupiter waterfront home the couple purchased in 2021.
The White House has not commented on Trump's weekend plans, but organizations opposing him and his administration's policies are mobilizing locally and nationwide for a series of "No Kings" protests on Oct. 17.
In sharp contrast, Mar-a-Lago is billing the season-opening party that day at its Beach Club. Like the president's members-only social club, the ocean-facing Beach Club closes for the summer and reopens in the fall.
The president's stay, if the Federal Aviation Administration alert is correct, would end before the start of early voting for this year's midterms at 7 a.m. on Oct. 19. The president has cast votes via the mail-in option in two elections this year, including the August primary, despite repeatedly asserting without compelling evidence that the process is rife with fraud.
Trump has invoked a state law to exempt his voting records from public disclosure going forward. That means it would be difficult to determine whether he votes by mail, or in person.
One of the nation's leading election experts, David Becker, questioned the president's employment of the privacy claim.
"The president clearly has nothing to fear from having his voting record public," said Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. "The privacy law is mainly meant to hide the addresses of law enforcement or domestic violence victims, for instance, and everyone already knows where he lives. It’s also worth noting that, if the president is not seen voting in person in public, then anyone will be able to deduce that he either voted by mail or didn't vote. There’s no way he can vote in person without the press knowing, I don’t think."
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post,part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump to return to Florida for first time at airport renamed after him
