On September 15, 2024, a man with a rifle waited near the sixth hole of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ryan Wesley Routh was convicted in 2025 and sentenced to life plus seven years in February 2026. Two years after someone tried to end Trump's life on that property, the President is now offering to turn it into a permanent presidential retreat — free of charge — for every president who comes after him.

The man they said was only in it for himself just offered to build something for all of his successors -- nomatter if they are Democrat or Republican.

Attorney Harvey E. Oyer, representing Trump International Golf Club, sent a letter to Palm Beach County commissioners on September 3 proposing the course be designated as a "U.S. Presidential Golf Course." The plan would make it available to all past, current, and future presidents, along with visiting foreign heads of state. The club would fund construction of a new presidential lodging facility and build a separate government entrance — all at zero cost to the federal government.

"Just as Camp David, Windsor Castle, or the Elysee Palace are known worldwide, so too will the Presidential Golf Course in Palm Beach County," Oyer wrote.

The property sits on county-owned land leased to the Trump Organization, less than five miles from Mar-a-Lago. It already benefits from proximity to what's now called Donald J. Trump International Airport, existing law enforcement infrastructure, and the kind of security perimeter that comes with having no homes or large buildings nearby. Trump himself framed it simply: "They could spend the weekend there like a retreat, like sort of a Camp David retreat."

Palm Beach County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo confirmed the vision behind the offer. "My understanding is that President Trump views this as a lasting contribution to the presidency and to those who will hold the office after him," Abruzzo said.

There's a historical echo here that makes the whole thing sharper. Mar-a-Lago was originally gifted to the federal government by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post upon her death in 1973. The government decided they didn't want it. Trump bought it in 1985 and turned it into the most famous private club in America. Now he's making the same kind of offer Post made — except this time, the property comes with a built-in security infrastructure and a president who's funding the construction himself.

Former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan raised the predictable security objection. "I think it would be absolutely impossible to secure the Trump International Golf Course," Kaplan told reporters, adding that any such retreat would require "24 hours a day, seven days a week" protection. Which is an interesting standard to apply to a property that already has Secret Service presence, airport proximity, and a security layout that caught an armed assassin before he could pull the trigger. The course's security infrastructure isn't theoretical. It's been tested.

The construction won't be completed before Trump leaves office. He knows that. That's the whole point. Future presidents would receive complimentary memberships to a world-class facility that Trump's organization built and paid for. The federal government's share of the tab is nothing.

Trump's most recent financial disclosure reported $36.9 million in earnings from the West Palm Beach club. He's not donating a failing property to get a tax write-off. He's handing over access to one of the most profitable golf operations in the country because he thinks the presidency deserves a Southern retreat.

"This is a gift that the President would like to share with his successors, the people of America," Oyer's letter stated.

The last person who tried to give the government a Palm Beach estate, they gave it back. This time, the gift comes with a lodging facility, a security perimeter, and a president who's paying for it out of pocket.

Marjorie Merriweather Post couldn't get Washington to accept a free mansion. Trump reported $36.9 million in revenue from the property last year and is offering it anyway.