President Donald Trump and his wife Melania on Saturday night turned his Mar-a-Lago Palm Beach resort into something like a royal court for a “Vienna to Versailles” black-tie Red Cross gala while outside protesters proclaimed themselves to be “Nasty Women” with plans to “Resist.”
The Associated Press reported that the president and his pals wandered from the poolside cocktails to the dance floor while bewigged servers and entertainers wore gowns and get-ups that looked like castoffs from Marie Antoinette and Co.’s closets. The annual fundraiser is a big deal for Palm Beach high society, but this year the event was closed to the press.
The Trumps watched from the head table along with Commerce Secretary (and Palm Beach fixture) Wilbur Ross. In remarks before taking a spin on the dance floor, Trump praised both the Red Cross and ball co-chair J.J. Cafaro, a mall developer convicted in 2002 of bribing former congressman Jim Traficant and in 2010 for not disclosing donations to his daughter’s failed congressional campaign.
One attendee told the AP that Trump stayed for hours and seemed to be reveling in the glow of acceptance of a Palm Beach crowd that had once viewed the nouveau riche developer with skepticism. Standing at a dais with the presidential seal and a glittering gold curtain behind him, Trump looked proud of the trappings of the presidency as he surveyed a room constructed to look like Versailles Hall of Mirrors.
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