Former US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House. Photo / AP
Former US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House. Photo / AP
Never one to embrace tradition, Donald Trump's first three months out of the White House have been far from the conventional post-Oval Office retirements enjoyed by those among his 44 predecessors.
Holding court at his namesake resort in Palm Beach's Mar-a-Lago, the 74-year-old's days are spent doing everything from plotting the next chapter of his political career to writing a post-presidential memoir and recruiting MAGA-aligned Republican primary challengers.
"He didn't play by the rules as President and he's certainly not going to as an ex-President," Newsmax CEO and longtime friend, Chris Ruddy, told CNN as one of more than a dozen Trump aides, confidants and allies who gave the publication insight into the former leader's new life.
While still bitter about his defeat in last year's presidential election, Trump has "nevertheless come to enjoy his status as a GOP kingmaker, relishing his ability to disrupt races or elevate pro-Trump figures against dissenters inside the party", the sources told CNN.
He is also, apparently, "yearning" to return to Washington (rumours have been flying that he – or at least his eldest daughter – are planning a run in 2024) and any "efforts to build a post-presidential political machine are principally aimed at supporting that goal", sources said.
Former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is shown in Palm Beach. Photo / AP
"Right now, he's doing a very good job sustaining his movement in case he does decide to run," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.
It wasn't an "easy transition" for Trump at first, one person close to him said.
"Most people would leave the White House relieved to have the weight of the world lifted off their shoulders, but for him it was a reality that took some time to get used to," they said.
A sense of isolation – after hundreds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, throwing him into "political exile" – also overtook him, they said, causing him to complain that the Republicans "couldn't wait to get rid of him".
Now a bit more acclimatised to life as a private citizen, he supposedly begins most days at 9am, playing between 18 and 27 holes at the Trump Resort golf course.
Trump supposedly begins most days at 9am, playing between 18 and 27 holes at his golf course. Photo / Getty Images
A leisurely lunch at the clubhouse follows, with a rotating cast of friends, where he steers clear of the buffet.
Back at his oceanfront resort, Trump then conducts candidate interviews or meetings with his staff until 7.30pm, before joining wife Melania for dinner on Mar-a-Lago's bustling terrace.
Former White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, who remains a close friend, Gingrich and his wife, Callista – who served as US ambassador to the Holy See during the Trump administration – have been among the couple's dinner companions in recent weeks.
Conway, former Florida Attorney-General Pam Bondi, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul and Ohio Republican Jim Jordan are among those Trump has "regularly called for messaging and political advice or to complain about Biden and Democratic leaders".
By mid-February, he had been convinced by aides and Republican leaders that next year "should be his immediate focus" and, "still interested in exacting revenge against GOP incumbents who had voted to impeach him or dismissed his election fraud charade", began discussing candidate endorsements with his team.
Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump. Photo / Getty Images
Next month, he'll escape a hot Florida summer at his resort and relocate to its Bedminster, New Jersey counterpart, where he'll continue his current routine.
"Our expectation is that the fundraisers and meetings will continue undisrupted. He'll probably want to host people in his living room at the cottage in Bedminster," a person close to the operation said.
And while Trump has played coy when it comes to confirming if he'll run for a second term, his allies once again think that he'd be a shoo-in for re-election – if he can "finetune his post-presidential messaging" and stop attacking other Republican Party leaders.
Those close to him said that the "vengeance-driven strategy he has deployed so far is unlikely to be helpful in the long term" and ignores what they view as "layup opportunities to target Biden and Democratic leaders over issues like immigration, taxes and identity politics".
"I think the radicalism of the Democrats is going to rebound enormously to Trump's benefit and he would be better off to focus on the Democrats. He has enough friends to go after disloyal Republicans," Gingrich said.
Another friend said that "he hates being off the A block" – referring to the lead segment in a cable news programme.
"He's really thinking of running again in 2024 just to get back to that."
