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The air was chilly outside Mar-a-Lago on the night before the New Year’s Eve party that would usher in 2018. Instead of dining on the terrace as they usually do, Trump and Melania were having dinner inside the living room at a large round table in front of the fireplace.
Compared with the previous New Year’s Eve after Trump had been elected, security was enhanced. A thicket of bushes at the edge of the front lawn had been thinned to allow Secret Service agents to see through. Clad in black battle-dress uniform, the Secret Service’s counterassault teams armed with semi-automatic Stoner SR-16 rifles, SIG Sauer P229 pistols, flash bang grenades for diversionary tactics, and smoke grenades were deployed in the parking lot leading to the Beach Club’s pool on the ocean. Lasers detected intruders at night. Secret Service agents seemed to be everywhere.
Pam and I were dining with our friends Gary and Mary Ellen Giulietti in the dining room called the tea room that adjoins the Mar-a-Lago living room. Jared and Ivanka were eating alone near us. Just after 10:30 p.m., we stopped at the president’s table. Trump greeted us and immediately tore into Steve Bannon, saying Bannon had little to do with his success.
I asked for an interview, which I had been teeing up for some months. Trump agreed to do it the next day but was not saying when. Sitting next to him, Melania lent her support for the interview by suggesting that he call over John McEntee, his personal aide, to set a time.
Later, as we were talking with McEntee, the president came over and said, “Let’s do it now.” We went to a corner of the Venetian palace living room. Two stories high, the living room provides a view of the ocean to the east and the Intracoastal Waterway to the west. The ceiling is gilded in gold leaf.
At the time, major companies had begun announcing bonuses of $1,000, pay raises, or increased contributions to 401(k) plans because a tax reduction had been passed. Within a few weeks, the number would grow to 250 companies giving bonuses to over three million employees who would receive the bonuses along with cuts in withholding for their personal income taxes.
In the only interview for a book Trump said he has given or will give as president, I asked him why he thinks Democrats and the mainstream media don’t understand why such measures as the tax cut help the middle class and create jobs.
“The Democrats understand it, they just hate that we were able to get it approved because they know ultimately it is the kiss of death for them,” Trump said. “They opposed it. And anybody that ran against it and refused to sign these massive tax cuts for the middle class, helping to create jobs, is going to have, I think, some very difficult times.”
Asked why they ignore the progress the Trump administration has made, he said, “Well, they have their thing. They’re obstructionists, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think we’re going to do very well. I think we’re going to have a big surprise in ’18. It’s just kicking in and is much bigger than anyone ever anticipated. It’s going to be one of the great bills in terms of jobs, in terms of economic development, and in terms of the middle class.”
Less than a week after we talked at Mar-a-Lago, the Dow hit 25,000 for the first time ever, advancing by 1,000 points in twenty-three days, the shortest span between 1,000-point gains in the history of the Dow. Since Trump’s election, the Dow had achieved a record close eighty-nine times.
I asked Trump why he believes working-class people understand him more than other groups.
“I think because ultimately that’s the people I care about,” Trump said. “I care about all people, but I care very much for the people I call the forgotten men and women. They have been forgotten, and they’re not going to be forgotten again.”
“What do you think people should know about you that they don’t understand?” I asked.
“I think they’re starting to understand me pretty well,” Trump said. “I get things done. There’s no president that has come close to doing what I’ve done in the first twelve months. Not even close. The cutting of regulations, the signing of legislation, the numbers of judicial appointments. We have a record. Federal judges, the appointment of Justice Gorsuch, so many things. We’re taking care of the vets. It’s really culminating and all coming together like a beautiful ribbon on top of a present with the tax cuts.”
If he had not been elected, “ISIS would still be flourishing,” Trump said. “I fixed that by being strong with the military and letting them fight like they’re supposed to fight. Not calling the White House every day and saying do you think we can attack and getting the okay four weeks later. Excuse me. Those people are gone. We fought good.”
Trump cited job growth numbers achieved despite disruptions caused by devastating hurricanes since he became president.
“How much of the animosity is all about jealousy toward you?” I asked.
“I don’t want to say jealousy,” Trump said. “But it’s an extreme hate, and I think it clouds their minds.”
Trump talked about what he likes to call the fake news media and how it never gives him credit for building a great company. But when it came to my question about the tips of hundred-dollar bills he hands out to janitors and workmen, Trump punted.
“What tips?” he said. “For who? Where?” he asked. When I pressed him, he finally acknowledged, “I just like taking care of people. I love those people. I take care of the people. They take care of me, I take care of them.”
Asked for an example of advice Melania has given that he adopted, Trump said that when he told her he was thinking of running, Melania responded by saying, “You know, if you run, you will win.”
“Well, I don’t know that,” he answered.
“If you run, you will win,” she repeated. “So, are you prepared to give up four or eight years of your life for that?”
“Well, I’m not sure that I would win, but maybe,” he said to her.
“She doesn’t want you to tweet so much, right?” Pam asked.
“Without social media, I might not be here,” Trump said. “Because the news is so biased and so dishonest and so fake that without social media, I would have no way of fighting. I have way over a hundred million people when you add them all up. And I’m able to fight back because of social media. If I didn’t have that, there’d be no way I could fight back the dishonesty of CNN and the dishonesty of ABC or CBS or NBC.”
Trump cited the New York Times story that began with the lede, “Donald J. Trump had barely met Rowanne Brewer Lane when he asked her to change out of her clothes.” As described in chapter 8 of this book, the story represented the opposite of what happened between Trump and Brewer Lane at Mar-a-Lago. It buried in the sixteenth paragraph the fact that the model began dating Trump. The day after the story appeared, Trump said he saw Brewer Lane on Fox News’s Fox & Friends saying the story was a lie and that Trump was a perfect gentleman.
“I said I want a retraction of the story,” Trump said. “They wouldn’t do it.”
Given that the entire Russia collusion story is bogus, I asked Trump why he gets agitated about the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
“It’s not a question of agitation, because I like the truth,” Trump said. “It gives an excuse for the Democrats who lost the election. They came up with Russia. It’s the Russia hoax, and it was nothing other than an excuse for the Democrats losing the election. And now it’s turning to all of the dishonesty on the other side. The only collusion is the collusion with the Democrats on Russia.”
Trump asked if I like and respect the former FBI director. I told Trump that Mueller is a man of integrity who turned around the FBI to make it more prevention oriented.
“I hope he’s going to be fair,” Trump said. “Say hello to him.” A month later, Trump offered to be interviewed by Mueller under oath.
Contrary to the claims in Michael Wolff’s book, Trump was as sharp as ever, totally on top of his game. When I brought up Norma Foerderer’s characterization of the two Donald Trumps, he said, “What a woman, huh? You hate to say they don’t make them that way, but very few people are like Norma.”
The next night was New Year’s Eve, and on the roadside on the way to Mar-a-Lago, the emergency lights on the police cars alternately flashed like diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. In a parking lot across from the club, Lamborghinis, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys had to run a gauntlet of security checks with bomb-sniffing dogs. Given the go-ahead, the cars drove onto the estate, passed the Trump helicopter, and stopped at the foot of the red carpet that had been unfurled across the back lawn. Leaving their cars to the waiting valets, the guests went through metal detectors, the women invariably setting them off with some jewelry, and then strolled along the red carpet to be photographed at the main pool.
Among the guests were Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his Scottish actress wife, Louise Linton, who has appeared in films such as Cabin Fever and in minor TV roles in CSI: NY and Cold Case. Also at the party was former baseball-star-turned-commentator Keith Hernandez. Aside from Fox News anchor Lou Dobbs, Pam and I were the only journalists present.
On the lawn around the pool were bars and hors d’oeuvres stations with caviar on blini, oysters on the half shell, stone crab claws, and sushi and sashimi as well as hot items like risotto with seafood and steamed lobster on skewers. Trump champagne, coconut shrimp, and pigs in a blanket with an artful dab of mustard were among the passed offerings. Dressed in shimmering gowns of gold lamé or silver chain mail, the women did their best to maneuver to the caviar station, given that their stiletto heels sank into the turf.
At 8 p.m., the 750 guests made their way to the ballroom, where Party on the Moon was performing. The menu included Trump iceberg lettuce wedge, Maine lobster ravioli, and sliced tenderloin and seared sea bass with taro root purée, morel mushrooms, and Burgundy au jus. Dessert was baked Alaska.
Overhead, the chandeliers flickered in time with the music, and a lighting sculpture of stalactites glowed and pulsated over the dance floor. As when Trump was first elected, he and Melania and the rest of the Trump family did not dance. A phalanx of Secret Service agents surrounded the long head table. The agents faced out into the room and collapsed the formation as necessary to let someone in, such as the golf pro who had shot a round with Trump that afternoon. Another group of agents lined the wall between the head table and the door. The agents all wore white shirts, their suit jackets open, their hands held free in front of their chests, just in case they had to reach for their SIG Sauer 229 pistols. One agent kept his hand firmly on the handle of his weapon.
Young scion Barron, dressed in black tie, left around 10:30 p.m. with two agents flanking him.
Just before midnight, the lead singer of the upbeat, high-energy Party on the Moon introduced Trump, noting that they had been coming to play this gig for years and choking up when he said that this was the first time with Trump as president. Trump took the mic to speak to the cheering partygoers. He was relaxed, in his element. Introducing Melania as an incredible inspiration, Trump told the crowd that people at rallies hold up signs reading, “We love our first lady! We love our first lady!”
“Jobs are pouring back into the country,” Trump said as the televised countdown from Times Square began. “And there’s more to come.”