Trump Raking in ‘Huge Profits’ from Conspiracy-Riddled MAGA Events, NYT Deep Dive Reveals

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File

The charity galas that once dominated Mar-a-Lago’s winter season have all but disappeared, but former President Donald Trump’s club is raking in higher profits than ever by replacing them with events featuring some of the most hard-right and conspiracy-driven elements of the MAGA universe.

The rightward shift of the Mar-a-Lago events calendar is covered in a deep dive by The New York Times’ Karen Yourish, Charlie Smart, and David A. Fahrenthold published as an interactive article on Wednesday with multiple video clips and graphics.

Headlined “How Mar-a-Lago Became the Center of Gravity for the Hard Right,” the article digs into how prior to Trump’s election, Mar-a-Lago mostly hosted “opulent galas” for “some of the nation’s most prestigious charities,” but those events plummeted as his presidency rolled along with controversy after controversy, ranging from his comments after the 2017 Charlottesville rally to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Those charities have mostly fled three miles north up the beach to Mar-a-Lago’s competitor luxury resort, The Breakers.

The Times’ analysis showed that prior to Trump’s election, Mar-a-Lago hosted only about one political event a year, the annual “Lincoln Day dinner” for the Palm Beach County Republican Party.

Now, the club’s calendar is dominated by political events, with the educational and cancer research foundations replaced by a parade of “ultra-right organizations” and MAGA supplicants to the gilded Trumpian throne, and “conspiracy theories and fearmongering take the ballroom stage.”

This has been especially lucrative regarding the many GOP candidates who trek to Palm Beach to kiss the ex-president’s ring:

The presidential race is not the only one rooted at Mar-a-Lago. A visit to the resort has become an essential rite for Republican candidates. Since 2021, more than 60 Republicans in or running for Congress or state office have spent money at Mar-a-Lago, most on fund-raisers. Their ultimate objective: securing an endorsement or a surprise appearance from Mr. Trump.

According to federal and state campaign finance filings through the first quarter of 2024, more than $4.7 million has been spent on the property by candidates and political committees since Mr. Trump left the White House and made Mar-a-Lago his permanent residence. Mr. Trump’s campaign, and super PACs supporting it, make up about a quarter of that total.

Forking over the dough to host an event at Mar-a-Lago can pay off: according to the Times, 44 Republican elected officials or candidates had events there for the 2022 or 2024 elections so far, and 34 have received the coveted Trump endorsement.

A lot of the data regarding Mar-a-Lago’s finances was made public as a result of the New York civil fraud trial brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Besides the whopping $450 million+ judgment, discovery during the litigation included information about the costs and profits from events hosted at the club, charges paid by the Secret Service who protect the former president, and increases in membership fees, among other details.

After a low point during the pandemic year of 2020, Mar-a-Lago’s profits “shot up again,” to where the club’s profits were “more than double those of any other Trump club,” according to records entered into evidence by a Trump Org analyst in the civil fraud trial.

Contributing to that spike in profits, wrote the Times, was a massive increase in charges. The initiation fee paid by all new Mar-a-Lago members rose from $100,000 when Trump won in 2016 to $600,000, and there was evidence that the prices charged for banquets had sharply risen as well.

“MAGA is a movement, and Mar-a-Lago is its epicenter,” the Times declared, noting how the nature of the membership has shifted along with the event calendar, with those less enthralled with Trump drifting away and his fervent acolytes taking their places.

The Times also catalogs the rogues’ gallery of MAGA faithful who have frequented the club, including Dinesh D’Souza, Laura Loomer, Jack Posobiec, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Seb Gorka, Lara Logan, Charlie Kirk, and more — with conspiratorial nonsense ranging from Pizzagate to baseless claims of election fraud running rampant.

Read the full report by The New York Times here.