June First, 2070.
From the Palm Beach Daily Newslocale (Anchor Steven Montez speaking):
Today at last our city has acquired a landmark which will attract tourists for decades to come. Barron Trump, last surviving child of disgraced one-time president Donald Trump, has finally succeeded in his crusade to create a monument to his father, to join the Presidential Centers which commemorate every other person to have held that office.
The monument consists of a museum and library located in the upper floors of the historic Mar-A-Lago Estate, once that president’s luxury getaway. Now located about 100 feet offshore, Mar-A-Lago had been accessible only by boat, but is now attached to the mainland by a floating causeway which will rise and fall with the tides and rise permanently to keep pace with the rising level of the ocean. There is parking available for both ground cars and flitter cars, and ample mooring space for small boats. The control tower which has been added to the complex will control all of these once they approach via land, air, or water.
The dedicatory ceremony was held yesterday, attended by all surviving ex-presidents, but not by President Kumarr, who cited prior obligations. She did delegate her wife’s stepson to represent her.
See related story with visuals and descriptions of the entire facility.
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Related Story (Alternately narrated by Evangeline Schlotsky and Moumahd Malone):
Join us for a virtual tour of the new Trump Presidential Center! Only 52 years after Donald Trump was forcibly but Constitutionally removed from the White House, and 47 years after his lonely death, his son, Barron Trump, can be seen cutting the ribbon at the foot of the causeway and inviting the attending officials and the general public to enter. We will follow, showing you everything they will see, just as if you were present in person.
First, as you step onto the causeway, note the low concrete wall which borders it on the right side. Pay special attention to the now-faded graffiti which have been covered with preservative so that no modern vandals can deface it. Yes, you can touch it, folks. You’ll do it no harm. This is all that remains of the quarter-mile of wall which Trump built on the USA-Mexico border. These pieces of concrete were painstakingly gathered and conserved by Smithsonian experts.
Next, note the door through which you enter. This is the very door to Trump’s Oval Office. Through it you step into a replica of that office, decorated exactly as it was in Trump’s time. Note the gaudy, tasteless decor for which he was famous. Unfortunately, these are all replicas, though painstakingly duplicated, as the real artifacts themselves were thrown into an incinerator within hours of Trump’s departure. What a loss to history!
Look carefully at the desk. Seated behind it...is that...can it be? Trump himself? Don’t worry folks, it’s only a hologram. No danger that he’ll begin ranting at you in his well-known manner. And what’s that in front of him on the desk? Look at it carefully folks. That’s not a replica. It’s the very cell-phone on which he typed his famous tweets. His son took care to preserve it after his death. No, you can’t touch it. It’s protected by a force-field.
(For related explanatory stories, “What was a cell-phone?” and “What were tweets?”, blink here.***)
You pass out of the Oval Office into a long corridor. There are exhibits along both sides, but first look down between your feet. No, you’re not floating in mid-air. You’re standing on a thick glass floor. Below you, you can see the lowest level of Mar-A-Lago, left just as it was when it was abandoned to the rising ocean. Despite the water and seaweed, you can discern all the luxurious and flamboyant details for which it was famous. Yes, it could have been pumped out and restored. It was decided (with the full agreement of Barron Trump) not to do so, as a tacit acknowledgement of the important part Trump played in creating these environmental conditions. You could say that the bottom floor of Mar-A-Lago is Trump’s most lasting monument.
Along both sides of the corridor are exhibits consisting of still photographs and documents. Note especially the Executive Orders (yes, these are the originals) and the documents relating to the investigations that led to Trump’s ouster. For those who appreciate such details, the documents relating to his nine bankruptcies will be of interest. The photographs, school records, and other paraphernalia of his early years will interest students of psychology who want to pursue the question “How did he get that way?”
At the end of the corridor we enter the theater. As you seat yourself, please remember that all of the material you will see was recorded before 3D recording was common. You will be viewing these exhibits in two dimensions only. You must prepare yourself to see them as the people of that long-ago time would have seen and appreciated them. You may face Display A, B, or C.
Display A shows Trump’s life before his entry into presidential politics. It includes excerpts from his “TV Reality Show” and material relating to Trump University and its scandalous demise. (Related material on “What were TV Reality Shows?” can be found here***.)
Display B consists entirely of Trump’s public appearances from the time he entered the Republican Primary in 2015 to his last appearance as president in 2018. These are shown in excerpts, but may be viewed in their entirety in the Library viewing booths. (A related article entitled “What was the Republican Party?” may be accessed here***.)
Display C portrays Trump’s impeachment and his final years of decline and seclusion, attended only by his youngest son, after his abandonment by his wife and other children. This display uses actors and enhanced environments, except for the impeachment scenes, which are original.
Leaving the Theater, the final stop is the Library. There are a few manuscript displays on the walls by the door, and viewing booths in which any of Trump’s public appearances may be watched and heard in their entirety. (The rest of the Library is accessible only to credentialed historians.) You then pass outside and along a balcony, from which, as you circle around to the exit, you can view Mar-A-Lago’s grounds, parts of which are still above water at low tide.
We hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour, and will want to bring your family to tour the Trump Presidential Center in person, on your next family vacation.