A very Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve
By Kevin Liptak, CNN
West Palm Beach, Florida (CNN) — Champagne and caviar? Anyone can do it.
A massive portrait of Jesus Christ painted rapidly onstage while the president of the United States watches on reverently before auctioning it off to a woman in a top hat for $2,750,000?
That is New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago.
“I want to just do something very special,” President Donald Trump said as the presentation began. “This is very different.”
The scene Wednesday night inside the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom didn’t begin quite so unconventionally. The party seemed, at first glance, like the typical year-end festivities at the president’s Palm Beach resort.
Rudy Giuliani was there, slouched over in a white dinner jacket. White pillar candles flickered on tables. Guests mingled around the pool before filing into the ballroom, which Trump is replicating at the White House.
A cold snap (in South Florida this means temperatures in the mid-fifties) made for a parade of fur coats. Musicians perched atop black cubes played “the Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” on repeat.
Before he stepped onto a black carpet emblazoned with “HAPPY NEW YEAR MAR-A-LAGO,” Trump greeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, who returned to the club after the president invited them to the party on Monday.
Trump has been ringing in the new year at Mar-a-Lago for north of two decades. Ticket prices spiked during his first term, hit the $1,000 mark a few years ago and now go for $1,450. That buys a prix-fixe meal and the chance of watching the most powerful man in the world eating it from behind a velvet rope.
In the past, the party has attracted high-profile guests like Martha Stewart, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods and Rod Stewart. This year, Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, Hollywood producer Brett Ratner, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, House Republican Whip Tom Emmer, and former television host turned United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro were among the guests.
Trump was uncharacteristically quiet as he walked past a bank of cameras and into the ballroom alongside the first lady, wearing a metallic silver gown. His resolution? “Peace on earth.”
Earlier in the day, Trump had gone on a social media tear against“scumbag” governors (Colorado’s Jared Polis), “mediocre” movie stars (George Clooney) and cheating Democrats (all). He used part of his speech Wednesday night to bemoan the brewing scandal over alleged fraud at taxpayer-funded child care centers in Minnesota’s Somali community.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of all of it. It was a giant scam,” he said. “Other than that, we’re going to have a great new year.”
But by the time he got to the main event, however, his cup of kindness seemed replenished.
“There’s a young lady named Vanessa who’s one of the greatest artists anywhere in the world,” he said, as the curious crowd grew quiet. “To me, she’s one of the greatest. In fact, she did something last night that was incredible. She can paint, slowly, a beautiful portrait for the White House, or she can paint the most incredible painting in literally 10 minutes.”
“She’s a speed painter, and she’s a great painter, but I think she’s one of the great living artists,” he went on. “And I said, ‘Do you think you’d be able to stay and interrupt the music for a couple of minutes and show them something special? Draw something really special. I don’t know what it is, but draw something really special.’”
The artist, Vanessa Horabuena, approached the large black canvas, her paintbrush aloft. She began rapidly spreading paint around as the band launched into a very slow rendition of “Hallelujah.”
Trump watched on intently as worship music played. Ten minutes later, Jesus’s face was staring out at the ballroom.
“I don’t know how you do that,” he said, before getting his auction underway at $100,000. “These people are loaded with cash, just so you know,” he explained to Horabuena.
Half the money would go to St. Jude’s, Trump said, and the rest would go to the local sheriff’s department.
The bids started coming: $200,000, $500,000.
“Hussain?” the president asked his billionaire guest, who bid $550,000.
The bids kept coming, finally landing at a little under $3 million. The president invited the winning couple on stage.
“We’ll have a good time tonight,” he told the winners, before pointing to the husband. “Get this guy’s number!”
The-CNN-Wire
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