By Gram Slattery
PALM BEACH, Florida, Jan 3 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump capped the holidays with an unprecedented strike on Venezuela, overseeing a surprise snatch-and-grab operation early on Saturday targeted at Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
The dramatic mission punctuated a winter sojourn to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, filled with an unusual mix of activities that have become oddly typical for the unconventional president.
Trump spent Thursday night, for instance, blasting out messages on Truth Social about an eclectic array of topics, none of them related to the South American country.
He wrote that the U.S. was “locked and loaded” and poised to help protesters in Iran if they were attacked by the government in Tehran. The 79-year-old president also presented his 11.2 million Truth Social followers with an image of a bald eagle that had been apparently slain by a windmill, while assuring them in a separate post that he is in “PERFECT HEALTH.”
On Friday, less than 24 hours before the Venezuela mission, Trump spent almost an hour perusing marble and onyx at an Italian stone importer in a gritty section of Lake Worth Beach for his planned White House ballroom. Onlookers were left agape as “The Beast” presidential limousine snaked its way down narrow roads flanked by strip malls and trailer parks for the shopping excursion.
Since arriving at Mar-a-Lago in mid-December for a trip that wraps up on Sunday, Trump’s days have been a blend of heady geopolitical affairs with visits from foreign leaders and glitzy social occasions, like a black-tie gala on New Year’s Eve replete with Palm Beach socialites. No stretch has underlined that juxtaposition more than the last few days.
Supporters see a vigorous executive, capable of juggling several tasks and interests simultaneously. Opponents say he is easily distracted and sometimes focused on trivial matters, even when his administration is engaged in immensely consequential matters, like preparing to attack a sovereign nation.
A PASSION FOR MARBLE, A DISDAIN FOR CLOONEY
On New Year’s Eve, with hundreds of military assets already in place and awaiting the order to capture Maduro, Trump took to Truth Social with mock celebration of the news that George and Amal Clooney – both critics of the U.S. president – had obtained French citizenship.
During the gala at Mar-a-Lago hours later, Trump invited painter Vanessa Horabuena up to the stage to paint an image of Jesus Christ. He then auctioned off the painting for $2.75 million to a woman in a top hat and a svelte man in modified black-tie attire. The proceeds, the president said, would go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
In the lead-up to the Venezuela mission, Trump also had his most high-profile architectural passion project – the $400 million new White House ballroom – on his mind. The endeavor has faced sharp criticism from Democrats and conservationists, in part because it involved the demolition of a significant chunk of the executive mansion.
A White House official told reporters on Friday that Trump was purchasing marble and onyx for the ballroom at his own expense, without providing further details.
“I’m doing a magnificent, big, beautiful ballroom that the country’s wanted, the White House has wanted for 150 years,” Trump said last week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had traveled to Florida to meet with the U.S. president.
That Trump would venture out days later to view marble options – even as one of the most significant U.S. military operations ever in Latin America was imminent – was not a total surprise for a president who has long had something of an obsession with the white stone.
During his first term in office, Trump appointees on an architectural board demanded that a renovation of the Federal Reserve in Washington include more marble. That demand, revealed by the media last year, has garnered renewed relevance as Trump frequently criticizes Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for the cost of that renovation.
Following Trump’s Friday stop at the marble importer, he headed to his golf course, as he did on a near-daily basis while in Florida. In the evening, he met with his ambassador to China, former Senator David Perdue.
Within hours, the plan to capture Maduro was a go.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)
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