Since the election, courtiers have been swarming around Mar-a-Lago like bees in a honeypot to pay homage to Donald Trump. The Florida Versailles, with its ballroom, chandeliers and disco lights, has attracted various oligarchs and power-brokers night after night. Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of a famous family, Tucker Carlson, America’s best known broadcaster, and politicians JD Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tulsi Gabbard, have all been hanging out there.
“You can always tell when the king is here,” Trump’s former butler Anthony Senecal once said. There is plenty of gossip, intrigue, plotting and feuding, as jealous parties vie for the president-elect’s ear. But a new dynasty is in the making and the Trump brand name counts for more than any other. The people Trump trusts most are members of his own family. He has long believed in the efficacy of good genes – “We’re smart people… like racehorses. You know the fast ones produce the fast ones,” he said at a rally in Nevada this year.
