President Donald Trump returned to the friendly confines of Mar-a-Lago on Friday, Nov. 14 capping a week that began with a “W” before turning fraught after remarks to a normally allied TV host, the release of cryptic Jeffrey Epstein emails and a new poll showing an approval rating 26 points underwater.
Trump landed at Palm Beach International Airport at 8:13 p.m. for his 14th visit to Palm Beach County this term. Traveling on Air Force One were Trump’s son-in-law Michael Boulos, who is married to Tiffany Trump, and the president’s father-in-law, Viktor Knavs. First lady Melania Trump, who has not accompanied the president on his Palm Beach weekends, did not join them.
Earlier he had lowered tariffs on coffee, beef and some produce. The president had said he did not want to hear about “affordability” and claimed Thanksgiving dinners would be far less expensive this year. But even Republicans like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, said such claims were “gaslighting.”
While on the way to Palm Beach, Trump said he did not plan any more reductions in import duties.
“I don’t think it’ll be necessary,” he told reporters traveling with him. “We just did a little bit of a rollback on some foods like coffee, as an example.”
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While Trump was at Mar-a-Lago last weekend, Senate Republicans cut a deal with a group of moderate Democrats to fund the government and end the record-long, 43-day shutdown. While in Palm Beach, Trump had crowed the Democrats were “cracking like dogs” and later boasted the GOP “broke” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
But the basking over the shutdown’s political victory was over by the time the president, at the White House, signed on Nov. 12 the budget bill that reopened the government.
Trump doubts talents of U.S. workforce, hires seasonal foreign workers at Mar-a-Lago
When asked why he appeared to flip-flop on the necessity for foreign laborers to come work in the United States, Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that “you do also have to bring in talent.” When pressed that the United States has “plenty of talented people,” Trump retorted “no you don’t” — eliciting sharp criticism from even within his MAGA movement.
Trump’s comments contradicted pledges and assertions during the 2024 campaign in which he repeatedly called for tight immigration controls precisely to guarantee jobs for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, particularly Latinos and Blacks.
In September, however, the president unveiled a “Trump Gold Card,” a U.S. immigrant visa for wealthy foreign people making a $1 million donation, or $2 million if a corporation or entity makes the donation on behalf of the individual. He subsequently proposed offering 600,000 visas to Chinese students.
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His comments to Ingraham seemingly denigrated American labor. It also reopened a rift within MAGA ranks that had blown up vociferously in December 2024 as Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and Steve Bannon caustically sparred precisely over the competitiveness of U.S. workers.
And it took place as news outlets — citing U.S. Department of Labor data — reported that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, two golf clubs and a Virginia vineyard sought to bring in 184 seasonal foreign workers under H-2A and H-2B visas this year.
How will Trump spend weekend sojourn in Palm Beach?
The White House schedule for the weekend in Palm Beach County, the 14th this term, did not list any events.
The president was also stung by House Democrats’ release of Epstein emails, including ones with a vague statement that Trump was “the dog that hasn’t barked” and another claiming that an unnamed victim “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with Trump. The president blasted the Nov. 12 document dump saying Democrats were “using the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” to “deflect from their massive failures.”
Trump spent Nov. 14 in the White House mansion, not the Oval Office, where he posted frequently on his social media platform.
In one post, the president attacked both Democrats pushing for release of the Epstein files and “some weak Republicans” that have “fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish.” In another, Trump said he was directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what he said was Epstein’s “relationship” with former President Bill Clinton, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and J.P. Morgan Chase and “many other people and institutions.”
The day before White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions about the missives saying Trump broke with Epstein, reportedly a former Mar-a-Lago club member, because Epstein was a “pedophile and a creep.” Leavitt, who also traveled to Palm Beach with the president, said the emails “prove absolutely nothing other than that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
In this photo from Sept. 19, President Donald Trump speaks as he sits next to a “Trump Gold Card” sign in the Oval Office at the White House. The card is an immigrant visa to the United States provided to wealthy foreign people making a $1 million donation or $2 million if a corporation or entity makes the donation on behalf of the individual.
Bookending the week’s adversity was a AP-NORC poll showing the president’s approval rating at just 36%. By contrast, 62% of respondents disapprove of the president’s performance.
The White House schedule for the weekend in Palm Beach County, in which Trump typically golfs and conducts business, did not list any events.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump returns to Mar-a-Lago, his 14th visit to Florida this term
