Trump vs. Trump

“Whatever the cost of protection, it’s nothing compared to the blow to this country if an assassination occurs,” best selling author Ron Kessler told Hollywood on the Potomac regarding the escalating costs of the President-Elect’s Secret Service detail that now includes Trump Tower in NYC and Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. With news that the future First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron will remain in NYC until he finishes his school year, their home in New York will require around the clock protection by taking over several floors of the Trump building which could cost as much as $3 million. “The Secret Service will do whatever it thinks is necessary to protect the President-Elect [no matter] where he wants to reside.”

Although the author is friends with Trump, he wasn’t called during the campaign to offer SS advice.”I’ve been friends with him ever since Pam and I flew down with him on his Boeing 727-100, since upgraded to a Boeing 757, almost twenty years ago for my book on Palm Beach: The Season: The Secret Life of Palm Beach and America’s Richest Society. We spent the weekend with him at Mar-a-Lago. Ever since we’ve been in touch with him and we see him in Palm Beach. I did talk to him on the phone periodically. In terms of advice, I think that anybody who thinks they’re actually going to give Donald advice is crazy. I think that Donald marches to the beat of his own drummer. I’ve interviewed his people. I really have a good idea of what he’s all about; that is, behind the scenes. He’s very savvy. He’s very reasonable. He’s very meticulous, which is just the opposite of the provocative comments that he makes on TV. On the way down on the plane to Palm Beach, he imitated the nasal-constricted sounds of the old guard – the WASP Society – that condemned his club at Mar-a-Lago because it admits blacks and Jews. To this day, some clubs in Palm Beach still do not admit blacks and Jews, so I could not be a member. My friend Juan Williams could not be a member. This is just a little peek at what Donald is really like. He’s not prejudiced. He’s not a nut.”