FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago forces a reluctant Palm Beach into spotlight once more

PALM BEACH, Fla. — It’s all eyes on Mar-a-Lago, yet again.

The 17-acre estate of former President Donald Trump has come under a glaring national spotlight after the dramatic FBI raid that set the political world afire on Monday.

Supporters from around the region headed straight for the town of Palm Beach on Tuesday to show their discontent.

Before noon, a crowd of angry supporters had gathered near the former president’s oceanfront estate to defend their hero and blast what they consider to be a Gestapo-like FBI.

“We’re here protecting our right not to be invaded by the FBI,” said Christina Dalgino, a Deerfield Beach resident with a red “Make America Great Again” cap perched atop her head and a “Trump 2020″ flag draped over her shoulders. “They’re coming for everybody. We’re next.”

Drivers passed by, honking their support. Supporters carried signs and flags that made their message clear: “Trump 2024.” “Trump won.” “F--- Biden.”

Ben Pollock came all the way from Lakeland to speak his mind, venturing toward the drawbridge where the protest was underway in a colonial hat with a giant American flag trailing behind him.

Pollock says his son, Jonathan, is a fugitive “on the run” over his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol. Pollock says the FBI raided his own house in Lakeland last year in an attempt to arrest his son.

“Our house was raided by the FBI,” he said. “Just like Mar-a-Lago.”

Pollock said more people should have come out to support Trump.

“I feel like every patriot in America ought to be there,” he said of the protest outside Mar-a-Lago.

‘Leave the president alone’

Some locals said they felt the drama was even more heightened when Trump was president.

At Mecox, a home goods and antique store, Lisa Olavarria and Derrick Simke said they still remember the days when police would shut down Southern Boulevard every time the president returned for a visit to Mar-a-Lago.

But on Tuesday, traffic flowed freely.

Simke shared his sentiment on the news of the day: “Leave the president alone.”

Local work crews took the scene in stride.

Morris Williams and Carlos Sanchez watched supporters pass on by Tuesday as they worked on the drawbridge leading to Mar-a-Lago. At one point, Williams said, four elderly women waved at them.

“They thought we were there to support (Trump), but we were here to work,” Williams said.

The two men were hard at work Monday when the FBI raid was going down, but didn’t notice a thing. They found out about it when they went home and turned on the news.

The raid on Mar-a-Lago falls in the “never-been-done-before” category, said Charles Zelden, a professor of history and political science at Nova Southeastern University.

“I can’t think of any time that a former president has been investigated in this manner,” he said. “This is very rare. But in order for this to have happened, the FBI has to determine that there’s a potential criminal act that occurred, that the evidence is in Mar-a-Lago, and then they have to convince a judge.”

The town’s elected officials were holding a council meeting Tuesday while the latest Mar-a-Lago drama unfolded.

“I get the feeling Palm Beach would prefer Trump was somewhere else,” Zelden said. “Palm Beach likes to be a quiet community, an enclave for the rich and powerful. And while Trump fits that category he is also very public, which is something that Palm Beach is not really interested in.”

‘A shock to the system’

Mar-a-Lago’s original owner, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, tried to turn her oceanfront estate into the Winter White House.

Post, who died in 1973, willed Mar-a-Lago to the federal government, hoping it would become a retreat for presidents and heads of state.

But the government returned it to the Post Foundation seven years later because the property cost $1 million a year to maintain.

Might the town of Palm Beach have gotten used to all the hoopla had things turned out differently? Zelden, the history professor, doubts it.

“Even if every president prior to Trump had been there, Trump would have been a shock to the system of Palm Beach,” Zelden said. “He’s just a different kind of politician, a different kind of ex-president. He’s a magnet for controversy, positive and negative.”

Mar-a-Lago, which means “sea to lake” in Spanish, overlooks the Atlantic Ocean to the east and borders the Intracoastal Waterway on the west.

Trump bought the town’s most famous estate in 1985 for $10 million. The mansion came with 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, a ballroom, nine-hole golf course and bomb shelter.

“I feel it is one of the diamonds of real estate, and I love diamonds, as you know,” he said at the time.

Swarm of attention

Decades later, Trump’s presidential visits to Mar-a-Lago meant planes had to stay away when he was in town.

In the first four months of his presidency alone, Trump and his entourage made seven trips to Mar-a-Lago, bringing a swarm of security and international attention.

On the island of Palm Beach, past Tuesday’s makeshift protest, the mansions loom quietly. No one is outside except for landscapers and estate managers paid to keep up the homes.

It was a calm Tuesday afternoon for the luxury businesses and restaurants on Worth Avenue.

At one point, a man walked by in a Trump T-shirt. Otherwise, the patrons seemed oblivious to what was going on at the drawbridge.

“The fact that he’s in Palm Beach on a curve near the bridge is inconvenient,” said a worker at one of the luxury shops.

Aside from that, he doesn’t think the island locals care much about what’s going on at Mar-a-Lago. “What they care about is money,” he said.

If Trump were to run for president again, some might wish for him to lose not because they care about politics, he said, but just so they can “go back to normal.”

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(Sun-Sentinel staff photographer Joe Cavaretta contributed to this story.)

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