For years, Donald Trump embodied the image of the young shark of the Manhattan of the eighties and nineties, the ambitious builder who wanted to fill the city with skyscrapers with his name, a flirt from Studio 54 and other clubs of the time, a piece of
La bonfire of the vanities
in the flesh.
Fifth Avenue's most famous neighbor until he moved into the White House on January 20, 2017.
Today, at 74, he has become one of those wealthy retirees from Florida, where he moved his tax home to save taxes and where he has the Mar-a-algo mansion, his favorite refuge during his hectic presidency.
From there he awaits the impeachment trial that begins this Tuesday in the Senate for the assault on the Capitol by a mob of his followers, who he incited with his unfounded accusations of electoral fraud.
The new Trump does not tweet, expelled as he is from social networks, but plays golf, prepares his defense for
impeachment,
has created a post-presidential office and accumulates money, a lot of money, in political donations.
It has moved away from Washington, but not from the madding crowd, which is part of its DNA.
Trump is still ready to go down into the mud and attack any affront, far from that kind of magnanimous Olympus in which the leaders install themselves after the White House.
For example, it is worth the resentment of the letter with which last Thursday he unsubscribed from the largest union of actors in the United States, the SAG-AFTRA organization, which had filed him after the assault on the Capitol.
“While I don't know her work,” the Republican begins his letter addressed to the president, Gabrielle Carteris, who played Andrea in the series
Beverly Hills 9210
(in Spain,
Sensation of living
), “I feel very proud of my work in movies like
Home Alone
2 (
Home Alone 2
),
Zoolander
and
Wall Street, money never sleeps
;
as well as on television shows like
The Prince of Bel-Air
,
Saturday Night Life
and, of course, one of the most successful shows in history,
The Apprentice
, to name a few… "
In the letter, Trump also claims to create thousands of jobs on cable television networks and "lying media" like CNN, he says, referring to the powerful audiences he used to generate, and attacks Carteris for the management of the organization, blames him for the strike in the sector, and accuses him of "disciplinary failures."
"You have not done anything for me," he concludes.
The letter was sent from the new office that he has opened with the task of "advancing the interests of the United States and moving forward with the agenda" of his Administration.
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has created a new mail distribution system through one of his companies for the former president's communications because his 2020 campaign infrastructure has been suspended by the provider he was using, Campaign. Monitor, as published by Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the decision.
The presidents of the United States, once they leave the White House, dedicate themselves to polishing their figure - they create a foundation, often around a Presidential Library - and they dedicate themselves thoroughly in the old art of making money in spades, something that was banned from them in office.
Barack Obama's lectures are priced at the same price as his lip, at the price of pure gold, and the contract for his memoirs and those of his wife, Michelle Obama, achieved dizzying figures (65 million).
Other former presidents such as Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan also gave a good account of the speaker business.
It remains to be seen whether Trump, who came to Washington rich, will once again take charge of his real estate and hotel conglomerate, whose management - but not ownership - he left in the hands of his children to avoid conflicts of interest.
What he has been good at is fundraising in the twilight of his presidency.
Between November and December, agitating the unfounded accusations of electoral fraud, it has obtained donations worth 250 million dollars, of which only 10 million, according to data from the Federal Electoral Commission, have served to defray the cost of the litigation.
A good part of the funds has gone to the new political action committee (entities that serve to support candidates and are not subject to limits on amounts) called "Save America", which the Republican created after the elections, on November 18 , and that he aims to support his political activities after leaving the White House.
According to figures published by
The New York Times
last Monday, this committee had $ 31 million in the account at the end of the year and about $ 40 million more waiting to be transferred from another account shared with the party.
What are you going to do with all that money?
A few weeks ago, rumors that he planned to create a third party - which would steal Republican votes - spread through the media and social networks, but advisers to the former president denied it shortly after.
For now, the 'Save America' Committee has already announced its support for candidates loyal to
Trumpism
, such as former White House spokeswoman Sara Huckabee Sanders, who has run for governor of Arkansas.
Trump, for his part, has made an effort to convey the message that a plausible candidate is seen in the presidential elections of 2024, something that his party does not like, that he wants to turn the page and start working in the future, either with a candidates with their image or likeness or with a traditional conservator.
The Democrats seek, with
impeachment
, to disqualify him as a candidate for the future.
He faces the charge of "incitement to insurrection."
A guilty vote in the Senate would not imply an automatic veto for elected office, but it would entail a parallel vote to ensure this.
The conviction verdict requires the support of 67 of the 100 Senators in the House, which means that 17 Republicans should break with the majority sentiment of their party and vote with the Democrats.
Some desertions are expected, such as the ten that occurred in the House of Representatives (first phase of this process), but the numbers do not come out for that sentence.
Some conservatives argue that trying a president outside the White House is unconstitutional, even if he has committed the alleged fault during the term and the charges have been approved with him still in the White House.
Others simply believe that Trump has no responsibility.
His lawyers use both arguments.
They are David Schoen, a Georgia lawyer who also defended former adviser Roger Stone (who obtained a presidential pardon from Trump) and Bruce Castor, who as a Pennsylvania district attorney opposed prosecuting Bill Cosby in 2005. The Republican them appointed on January 31, after breaking with the five jurists who were preparing their defense for strategic disagreements.
Sources close to the process explained that Trump wanted to insist on the hoax of electoral fraud, according to the local press, but the president's environment denied it and his first defense brief avoids launching accusations.
What is a fact is that, just a week after the historic trial, he changed lawyers.
Pure Trump.
The mogul will remain silent, as his lawyers have advised, despite Democrats asking him to testify.
The republican loses his tongue.
And, in addition, he has other lawsuits on the horizon.
