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PALM BEACH, Florida - President Donald Trump is poised to return on Tuesday night to his Mar-a-Lago club in South Florida for his annual Thanksgiving visit.
Even before he became president, over the years Trump has favored spending Thanksgiving with his family at Mar-a-Lago, as opposed to traveling to his other properties. During his first presidential term, from 2017 to 2021, the 45th president made three trips to Palm Beach.
Previous visits have been notable. In one, the president flew on Marine One to an arena in Broward County for a rally just after arriving at Palm Beach International Airport. During that stay, Trump also secretly flew off to spend the holiday with the troops in Afghanistan.
This year's holiday trip would be the president's 15th visit to the island since he took office for his second term in the White House on Jan. 20. His most recent trip to Palm Beach was Nov. 14-16.
2017: Trump's first Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago as president
Trump arrived at Palm Beach International Airport on a Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017, with his wife Melania and son Barron on Airforce One.
Trump remained in Palm Beach over the Thanksgiving holiday, calling troops at overseas bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait and the Arabian Gulf. He also paid a visit to the local Coast Guard station.
After a "turkey call," the president slipped in a round of golf with legend Tiger Woods and then-PGA Tour pro Dustin Johnson, both of whom live in South Florida, about 21 miles north of Mar-a-Lago. On what was then Twitter (now X), Trump tweeted that he planned to play golf “quickly” with Woods and Johnson.
Trump's Thanksgiving 2018 following DeSantis and Rick Scott wins
Trump's second trip to Palm Beach County as president came after Florida delivered some of the few wins — including Ron DeSantis in the governor's race and Rick Scott in a U.S. Senate seat pick-up — in what was a "blue wave" midterm election for the Democratic Party.
Trump played a round of golf with Jack Nicklaus, who lives in nearby North Palm Beach. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump invited the media to cover his phone calls to U.S. military servicemen and servicewomen.
While taking questions, he was asked about the brewing crisis at the southern border and Trump announced he will close it. That set up a major showdown with congressional Democrats, leading to a partial government shutdown. Trump was set to return for an extended Christmas and New Year's holiday but he instead remained in Washington owing to the 35-day stand-off over the federal budget.
In 2019, Trump flew to celebrate Thanksgiving with troops in Afghanistan
In 2019, Trump landed on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and immediately helicoptered from PBIA and headed to a rally in Broward County.
But on Thanksgiving, when he usually speaks to military service men and women abroad, Trump was nowhere to be seen. That was because he secretly flew off in the middle of the night to celebrate Thanksgiving with the troops in Afghanistan. He returned to Palm Beach County the day after, on Friday, Nov. 29.
Trump departed for Washington on that Sunday to conclude the holiday visit.
In the nation's capital, however, Democrats were mounting an impeachment case stemming from an effort led by confidant Rudy Giuliani to pressure Ukraine's government to open a probe of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Within weeks, Trump became only the third U.S. president to be impeached.
Trump skips Thanksgiving 2020 at Mar-a-Lago after election loss
For the first time since taking the oath of office in 2017, President Donald Trump did not spend Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
The news was announced via Twitter on Tuesday by Melania Trump’s chief of staff Stephanie Grisham, who wrote, “Holiday Scheduling Update: The @POTUS & @flotus will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday at the @WhiteHouse this year.”
While the White House had not provided a reason for the change of plans this year, the president was embroiled in the bitter battle over the 2020 election results, which Trump never accepted.
When Trump is in Palm Beach, the FAA issues temporary flight restrictions that include a a radius of 10 nautical miles where most flights are banned, and a ring of 30 nautical miles where more movement is allowed. The Boca Raton Airport is within the 30-nautical-mile ring.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rally, golf, Afghanistan: How Trump has spent Mar-a-Lago Thanksgivings
Reporting by John Bisognano and Antonio Fins, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Beach Post
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