A family supports Trump from their boat in Palm Beach, near the Republican's Mar-a-Lago residence.Joe Raedle / Getty
The Eden Roc was a famous hotel half a century ago.
When they weren't in Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra and his gang would travel to Miami and throw big parties in this neo-baroque-style building, located on what was called, and still is called, Billionaires Row.
The mansion owners in this exclusive area of Miami Beach were obviously billionaires and, almost without exception, loyal voters of the Republican Party.
Things have changed.
The Eden Roc is now a hotel like any other.
The real billionaires are no longer on Billionaires Row, but in other areas of Florida.
And the most mind-bogglingly wealthy among them do not vote for Donald Trump and the Republican Party, but for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
Sometimes it falls into the simplification and the voter of Donald Trump is identified with the wealthy classes.
The thing is more complex.
In reality, the “orange monster”, as a friend calls it, has its most enthusiastic base among industrial workers, small farmers, part of the Latin American immigration and that social class with a blurred profile that is usually called
white trash
:
white trash
racists who can't stand being as poor as blacks.
Not a soul passes by the "Billionaires Sidewalk" on Collins Avenue.
The mansions that one imagined are not seen either.
There are apartment blocks, as in the entire beach.
Housing prices are quite accessible for what the neighborhood is: from a million dollars.
As a general rule, it can be said that, in Miami, the more you show, the less you have.
Let's understand: Julio Iglesias' residence is very close to here, on the other side of the beach peninsula, on a private island called Indian Creek, and a few years ago he put up for sale a part of the land that he had left over for 150 million dollars .
There is wealth.
Those who succeed in show business show a preference for Miami Beach, where they can have their yacht moored at their home dock.
The "old" money tends to be discreetly camouflaged in the noble areas of Coral Gables.
The reporter is finally able to make eye and verbal contact with someone who doesn't look like a tourist on Billionaires Row: a young couple driving very, very slowly in a dark gray Ferrari convertible and enjoying the sunset.
"Do you reside around here?"
"No, we are on tourism."
Such slowness was suspicious.
They want to see and, above all, to be seen.
Renting a Ferrari usually costs between 600 and 1,000 dollars a day, but now, due to the pandemic, it is possible to get one for just under 500. And, for just over 1,000, enjoy the dream of riding around in a Rolls- Royce.
On the beach in Miami, the fictional predominates.
By definition, you don't see the real rich on the street.
Less during a pandemic.
The rich-rich still own mansions in Florida, though they are concentrated about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Miami in Palm Beach.
And, according to a poll by the financial magazine
Forbes
, they are split almost 50% between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
In Palm Beach, in addition to Trump himself (who does not own a real private palace but a luxury resort, Mar-a-Lago, and is kind of middle-class compared to the real Croesi), he had a sumptuous residence David Koch ( worth estimated at 59,000 million dollars), who died last year, a sponsor with his brother Charles of almost all right-wing causes and a great ally of Trump.
Also has a house there Michael Bloomberg (worth estimated at 50,000 million), Democrat and fierce adversary of Trump.
And they say that he is looking for a residence in Palm Beach, because he already has mansions almost everywhere and that file is missing, Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon (estimated assets of 200,000 million), the richest businessman in the world and one of the most ferocious personal enemies of Trump.
In a trait of originality, the second richest businessman in the world, Bill Gates (worth estimated at 115,000 million dollars), another who is very little friend of Trump, did not buy his Florida house in Palm Beach, but in Naples, to about 150 miles.
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