Donors party at Mar-a-Lago

Spirits were high at fundraiser

President Donald Trump wasn’t physically there, but his presence was felt from beginning to end by Republican activist and party donors who gathered for an evening of celebration at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago Club.

VIP ticket-holders got a surprise visit from First Lady Melania Trump. The Friday night was held in the opulent Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom. The Lincoln Day event party favor was a signature Trump “Make America Great Again” red ball cap placed on the chair of each of the 692 attendees.

And the “chocolate mousse bomb” dessert was topped with an image of Lincoln —wearing a MAGA hat.

In the midst of all-things-Trump, the guided splendor of Mar-a-Lago, and the company of fellow Republicans — a combination of people who volunteered time to work in the trenches of the 2016 campaign or donated money to the party’s efforts — spirits were ebullient.

It was a long way, in distance and mood, from the turmoil in Washington, where hours earlier Republicans suffered the collapse of their health care legislation, began pointing fingers of blame at one another, and wondered how deeply the Republican president and Congress were damaged.

Not so at Mar-a-Lago, the resort that Trump turned into a cold-weather getaway when he was a New York real estate dedinner veloper and now uses as a presidential retreat.

“The mood’s uplifting, exciting,” said Tami Donnally, vice chairwoman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. “What we wanted to accomplish tonight was getting together and celebrating.”

She said there was no reason the failure of the Obamacare repeal, a signature campaign promise from Trump and the Republicans elected to the House and Senate, should cast a pall over the gathering. “I see

the bigger picture,” she said. “A setback, yes. Something to be sad, depressed [about], no way.”