During the 2016 election former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) desperately begged a crowd of supporters, “please clap.” Now, in 2022, former President Donald Trump is the desperate one begging his supporters to clap for him.
A video from Mar-a-Lago, shared by ParlerTakes, shows the former president entering the dining hall amid cheers. He then appears to wave his hand at the audience, requesting more. He then gives a two-thumbs-up sign.
Trump asking for applause from the Mar-a-Lago brunch crowd. Sad. pic.twitter.com/VuL33c0eGp
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) January 23, 2022
The story isn’t being told for the first time. Some of the many books written about Trump’s post-presidency have included accounts about him requesting a standing ovation when he enters the dining room. No one appears to be standing in this footage.
In their book “I Alone Can Fix It,” Phil Rucker and Carol Leonig reported on this. It describes the scene in the dining room as Trump holds court.
Jimmy Carter builds houses for the poor. Clinton has a foundation. Bush has a think tank and paints portraits of veterans. Obama has a foundation.
Trump begs for applause at brunch at his gaudy golf club. https://t.co/2Ph3lyhiaI
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) January 23, 2022
“As more dinner guests with plates began queuing up in the room to visit the raw bar and other food stations, Trump finally decided it was time to wrap up our conversation. He invited us to stay for dinner and instructed the maître d’ to find us a table. Then the former president stepped onto the veranda and into the last of the day’s sun. Right on cue, the dinner guests immediately stood up at their tables to applaud him. He took it all in, smiling,” the book said. “Just another Wednesday night at Mar-a-Lago. And off he went, table by table, to greet friends.”
Look at all those black people serving all those white people at Mar-a-Lago.
Fascist Trump needed to ask his crowd for applause. (It’s hard to get people to clap for you when they have more money.) https://t.co/8UiLB9SJlF
— 🇺🇸(っ◔◡◔)っ 🍆 🇺🇸 (@Periabo) January 23, 2022
“When you’re down there talking to him, there’s a distorted reality he’s presenting, not only to us, but the dozens of guests that come to Mar-A-Lago every night for dinner and give him a standing ovation at sunset, and then you leave Mar-A-Lago and you realize what’s happening in the world the reality is so different from what he’s trying to tell his supporters,” Leonig shared after the book was published.
Investigations into Trump’s actions have kept him headline news recently.
Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on Tuesday released new details about her civil investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business, saying the probe has uncovered evidence that the company placed a fraudulent value on multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for financial gain.
In the court document, James, who began her investigation in 2019, also stated that the former president “had ultimate authority over a wide swath of behavior by the Trump Organization,” including fraudulent misstatements to financial institutions, the Internal Revenue Service, and others.
She notably addressed the accountability of Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, two of the former president’s adult children.
“Since 2017, Donald Trump, Jr. has had authority over numerous financial statements containing misleading asset valuations,” James wrote in the court filing.
Ivanka Trump “was a primary contact for the Trump Organization’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank. In connection with this work, Ms. Trump caused misleading financial statements to be submitted to Deutsche Bank and the federal government,” James wrote.
“Thus far in our investigation, we have uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit,” James said in a statement Tuesday. “The Trumps must comply with our lawful subpoenas for documents and testimony because no one in this country can pick and choose if and how the law applies to them.”
