There were cheetah and zebra stripes on the walls and tables. Women wore sequined leotards and elaborate hairstyles, and a couple flocked in costumes with bright jungle bird feathers. Then President Trump arrived.
“I came as Donald Trump,” he said, wearing his standard red tie and navy suit. “I didn’t have time to prepare. People were spending a lot of time and money. Rich people. They spent nine hours getting ready. I had 10 minutes, so I came as Donald Trump.”
That was the scene Saturday night, when hundreds of people gathered in the Mar-a-Lago ballroom to celebrate Halloween with the president. The theme was jungle, although it was opulent.
There was Alaskan king crab and a caviar bar. There were bongo drums and puppets. Participants posted photos on social media showing a pen at the club with a zebra and a miniature pony. Nothing too scary.
The political environment across the country is much scarier for Republicans. And yet, even as they braced for potential losses on Tuesday, Mr. Trump, whose approval rating is near historic lows, was happy to be entertaining.
“Look at all my rich members,” he told reporters. “They spent all day preparing. Look at these guys.”
He added: “These are the biggest guys on Wall Street. »
The tone was striking, with polls showing voters were even more unhappy with Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy. A recent study by the New York Times and the University of Siena found that a majority of voters blame Mr. Trump for this decline: 69% disapprove of his handling of the cost of living, 65% disapprove of the war in Iran, and nearly 75% disapprove of the high price of gasoline and diesel.
But for Mr. Trump, Mar-a-Lago is still a stage for his golden festivities.
There were President Mike Johnson and Sergio Gor, the U.S. ambassador to India, in the cordoned-off section of the ballroom. Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was traveling with Mr. Trump aboard Air Force One on Friday, told reporters that he planned to wear an astronaut suit to the party. (On Sunday, a spokeswoman for Mr. Blanche said he neither attended the party nor intended to do so.) Vice President JD Vance was back in Washington, dressed as Albus Dumbledore as part of a Harry Potter family costume ensemble.
Mr. Trump entered the ballroom with fanfare and chatted with reporters on the dance floor before mingling with his “rich friends,” as he kept calling them. He blasted Alina Habba Mildon, his former personal lawyer, over a $50 million deal she secured to work with a Venezuelan billionaire family seeking a pardon from the president. He weighed in on the feud between Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate.
And he addressed, for the first time, a New York Times report that Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive and an adviser to Mr. Trump, was the target of a Chinese spy plot.
“I have a lot of respect for him. I like him. We hope everything goes well,” he said. “We’re going to check it. We’re going to check it very closely.”
Asked whether Mr. Huang would remain a member of the President’s Council of Science and Technology Advisers, Mr. Trump said he “would like to say yes.”
“I mean, unless we find out something to the contrary,” he said. “I’ve always found Jensen Huang to be very honest. But you know, you’re dealing with a very complex problem, I would say.”
The Halloween party comes at a complicated time for the president. He has spent much of the last month crisscrossing the country holding rallies for Republican candidates, many of whom are even or behind in the polls. Some have sought to distance themselves from the president’s unpopular policies.
Mr. Trump was originally scheduled to travel to Kansas on Saturday for a rally, then to Iowa on Sunday. But on Thursday, both were canceled. A day later, after the president criticized a reporter for asking why the first rally was canceled, the events resumed, but rescheduled as a double-header on Sunday.
Before the Halloween party, Mr. Trump spent much of the day at his golf course in West Palm Beach and participated in virtual rallies for Republican candidates.
“I feel very good,” the president told reporters, as the feathered guests gaped at him. “I mean, I feel like we’re doing great. The country has never done better.”
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