"Trump Hikes Mar-a-Lago Membership To A Million Dollars
Ethics observers say the move suggests that Trump is courting a new clique of wealthy donors eager to pay for access.
Trump immediately doubled the membership fee to $200,000 when he became President in 2017 and has kept increasing the price since then. Pay-to-play, indeed.
“Trump is the ultimate grifter,” said Robert Weissman, president of the Washington DC-based pro-transparency group Public Citizen.
Donald Trump has set a million-dollar price tag for the ability to whisper in his ear should he win back the presidency in November, prompting ethics watchdogs to worry that the Republican nominee is selling access and political influence for personal gain.
Trump is making available four new and rarely available memberships at his exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he mingled freely with unvetted patrons during his first term of office and accepted policy advice from guests scrawled on cocktail napkins.
The $1m cost of each membership, which will open for applications in October, exactly one month before the presidential election, also represents a 43% hike from the current initiation fee of $700,000 – an eye-popping increase given the former president has railed against Joe Biden for what he sees as out of control inflation."
