Donald Trump’s neighbours in Florida don’t want him to become President: ‘It’s going to be a nightmare’

Trump's time in Palm Beach has largely been spent sueing it

“It’s going to be a nightmare,” predicts Patricia Reybold standing on the balcony of her spacious apartment gazing across the inlet to the turrets and lawns of Mar-a-Lago, the famed mansion that Donald Trump threatens to turn into a winter White House if he becomes president.

Like many other residents of this gilded stretch of Florida’s Atlantic coast, Ms Reybold has many reasons to shudder at the thought that Mr Trump, who bought the historic Palm Beach estate in 1985 and later turned it into a country club, might actually become commander in chief.

There have been the bombastic billionaire’s endless run-ins with the town, notably over a too-large American flag he erected on the estate’s front lawn and his continuing attempts to force a change in flight paths in and out of its airport because he doesn’t like the jets overhead.

And there’s his politics. While in Palm Beach itself, which occupies an island across the water from West Palm Beach, Republicans outnumber Democrats by four to one, some of them have found his racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric on the trail hard to stomach. Others have never been able to get over his treatment of Jeb Bush, a Florida favorite son, in the primaries.

Ms Reybold’s first concern is the logistical mess having a president as a neighbour would bring. “All the secret service, I think it's going to be pretty difficult being here,” she notes. “We are going have the helicopters, all the air traffic going on and Air Force One going to the airport, it’s just five minutes away.” In other words the noise of planes he complains about will get only worse.

But she also has her own special reason to be suspicious of The Donald. In 1987 when Mr Trump had just published his best-selling book, The Art of the Deal, she went on a date with him in a club in Manhattan. It didn’t go well and she has not forgotten - or forgiven.

Story anyone? The press assemble at Mar-a-Lago (David Usborne)

“The one thing that sticks out in my mind, is that when I got there…he didn’t stand up when I got to the table. I never forgot and it annoyed the hell out of me. So I sat down and the entire evening was spent rubber-neck to see who was around. He had no interest in anything except in who was there,” she recalls. “I just thought, what a jerk. You can quote.”

From the start, Mr Trump wasn’t an easy fit for Palm Beach, where ostentation is traditionally hidden behind closed gates and high ficus hedges. But he caused the most trouble when he realised that Mar-a-Lago - its construction in 1927 for a cereals heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, allegedly consumed America’s entire supply of gold leaf - needed to make some money for him. His solution: subdivide the property into eight parcels and build houses on them.

That was blocked by the town. It was his lawyer, Paul Rampell, who suggested a solution. Turn it into a private club, but not like the others in Palm Beach that refused blacks and Jews - the Jews had their own place. It would be accessible to anyone with the money to pay the initiation fee. (Then $25,000 and today $100,000.) Members of the other exclusive establishments, like the Bath and Tennis Club right next door were mortified. But eventually the town agreed, but only after he filed a $100 million lawsuit against it saying it was perpetuating discrimination.

Then came the flag, hoisted by Mr Trump on the oceanside of the property. It was too big and the pole was too tall and soon the town was fining him $1,250 a day until he took it down. An eventual settlement saw him move the flag back deeper into his property and lower the pole. Instead of paying overdue fines, he donated $100,000 to a local veterans charity. This week, however, it emerged that that money didn’t come from his pocket as everyone imagined but from the coffers of his charitable entity, the Trump Foundation.

Richard Rampell, a prominent Palm Beach accountant, voiced exasperation that Trump boosters point to Mar-a-Lago’s open-to-all policy as if it was his idea. It wasn’t, he said, it was his brother’s, the lawyer. Mr Trump just needed to find a way to earn money from the estate.

“It was entirely my brother’s idea, entirely, one hundred per cent,” Mr Rampell said, admitting that politics is not something he and his brother get into very often. “He knows were I stand.” As for Mr Trump’s behaviour generally: “He is the most shameless liar I have ever seen.”

On several occasions this spring, meanwhile, Mr Trump held press conferences at Mar-a-Lago, for which he extracted large fees from his own campaign. Meanwhile when it comes to all the legal confrontations with the town - the suit over the flightpaths is ongoing, but does not involve the town itself - Mr Rampell almost rolls his eyes.

“Every time something happens here, Trump sues people,” he ventured. “He is a big bully, you know, he is always talking about, ‘I want to be treated fairly’. Yet, he doesn’t go into any contest unless he can have an unfair advantage. He wants to get what other people don’t get. This whole bullshit about him wanting to be treated fairly is just so preposterous.”

A Democrat, Mr Rampell is watching to see what his Republican friends in Palm Beach will do come election day. “Almost all the Republicans I know, at least the ones that are thoughtful, they are not going to vote for Trump, they will probably hold their nose and vote for Hillary.” As for the few who are enthusiastically backing him, he offers: “I believe they are either seriously misguided or they have some economic reason for wanting to do that.”

Croquet anyone? The beachside lawn at Mar-a-Lago (David Usborne)

But for Robin Bernstein, a big figure in town who joined Mar-a-Lago the day it opened, such talk is nonsense. She agreed a few Bush loyalists may demur. “It was really difficult for the Bush people,” she said, but added that otherwise most of her Republican friends in town are on board for Mr Trump. She and Mr Trump are close friends. She also leads his Florida Women for Trump committee.

“Ridiculous, ridiculous,” she said of the notion that he has deliberately exploited racist instincts in some voters, in such a way that people in town simply can't support him. “He is not a racist. I would venture to say to say that probably that all his clubs are diverse and that he does not discriminate. Maybe sometimes he may overstate things a little bit. You and I both know that everyone coming in illegally is not a criminal or rapist, she said, referring to his past statements to that effect, “but they are still coming in illegally”.

“Politicians sometimes they say things without thinking, say things they wish they hadn’t said,” she conceded, however. “Giving him the benefit of the doubt and the fact that he is human, you know, I think he has stated that he regrets some of the things he has said.”

As for what happens on 8 November, Ms Bernstein expressed firm confidence. “Never bet against Donald Trump, that’s my motto,” she said. “He is a fighter, he knows how to win.”

For those Palm Beachers who once thought that Mr Trump becoming president was about as likely as their town hall getting struck by lightening - and felt secure in the knowledge that the country could never, ever elect him - such talk can only make them seriously nervous.

And on Tuesday this week, the town hall did get struck by lightening.