The Trump golf club in West Palm Beach could become the next Camp David if Trump gets his way. A proposal presented to Palm Beach County officials calls for part of Trump International Golf Club to be named a permanent, official presidential retreat, where future presidents could vacation, host international summits and put up visiting foreign leaders.
The plan comes with a perk. Every future president, Democrat or Republican, would be offered a free membership to the private club.
The Washington Post reported the proposal Wednesday. The Palm Beach Post first reported it last month, after Harvey Oyer, a lawyer for the club, sent a letter to the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners laying out the idea. “Just as Camp David, Windsor Castle, or the Elysee Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential Golf Course in Palm Beach County,” Oyer wrote.
Camp David is the secluded presidential retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. Presidents have used it for decades to get away from Washington and hold private meetings with world leaders. Dwight Eisenhower named it after his grandson, David, in 1953.
Trump has never been much of a Camp David guy. He has visited less often than many of the presidents before him, preferring to spend weekends and holidays at his own properties, and he once said its rustic charm wears off after about half an hour. The Florida retreat would not replace Camp David.
Trump can’t make this happen on his own. Palm Beach County owns the land under Trump International and leases it to the Trump Organization, which is why the proposal has to go through county commissioners.
The club is also a big moneymaker for Trump. He reported $36.9 million in earnings from it in his most recent financial disclosure. An official presidential designation, plus regular visits from future presidents and foreign leaders, would put a spotlight on a business his family owns. Reports on the proposal so far have not said who would pay to build or run the retreat.
This isn’t the first time a Palm Beach estate has been pitched as a presidential getaway. Mar-a-Lago’s original owner, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, left the estate to the federal government in the 1970s to be used as a winter retreat for presidents. The government handed it back in 1981, and Trump bought it in 1985.
County commissioners have not voted on the plan, and the project is not expected to be finished before Trump leaves office.
