Trump planning to raise $2 billion for a presidential library, likely in Florida

[thelakelander]

President Donald Trump is relaying to supporters and GOP donors that he wants to raise $2 billion for a presidential library and museum, according to The Washington Post.

No official announcements have been made, but the presidential library is "likely" to be in Florida, home of the outgoing president's Mar-a-Lago resort and the most probable political base for the his eldest daughter and son, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-presidential-library-museum-florida-2-billion-fundraising-gop-2021-1

[marcuscnelson]

Oh boy…

What are the odds Curry starts begging them to build it up here because he never knows when to stop while the going's good?

But frankly, who the hell would give this man two billion dollars at this point?

[Ken_FSU]

[marcuscnelson]

State Rep Anthony Sabatini is sponsoring legislation to rename US 27 in Florida the "President Donald J. Trump Highway."

[jaxlongtimer]

^ The only road that should bear Trump's name is one in Texas (surely Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will help see to it) that dead ends at his border wall folly with Mexico.  Imagine all the immigrants stepping on his namesake road as they climb over, through, under or around his wasteful wall.  Oh, the irony!

While we are at it, his library should be built with the border wall serving as one side of the library.  For those making it across the border, it would be their first sight of the US - with the opposite immigrant welcoming symbolism of the Statue of Liberty.  The library could double as an ICE border HQ's and prison for immigrant children in tribute to Trump's legacy which is, after all, what a presidential library is built for.

[Captain Zissou]

I drove from the Keys to Jax up I-95 after Thanksgiving and at almost every overpass in the Boynton, Delray, and West Palm area there were trumpers waiving signs and flags.  Inexplicably, people don't hate him down there.  I expect he'll try to put it near downtown West Palm.

[CityLife]

I drove from the Keys to Jax up I-95 after Thanksgiving and at almost every overpass in the Boynton, Delray, and West Palm area there were trumpers waiving signs and flags.  Inexplicably, people don't hate him down there.  I expect he'll try to put it near downtown West Palm.

Yep, all 1.5 million people in Palm Beach County were at those overpasses  Trump got a larger share of the vote in Duval at 47.4 compared to 43.3.

His dream scenario is Downtown West Palm Beach, but that is a long shot as it is a fairly progressive city and would get tons of blowback. If it's in Florida, my guess is he tries to put it somewhere like Naples or Fort Myers. 

The guy really needs to just lay low for awhile, but I doubt his ego will allow that.

[Adam White]

The guy got 74 million votes and over 46% of those who voted, voted for him.

I hate to break it to you, but he's popular (almost) everywhere.

[Charles Hunter]

I drove from the Keys to Jax up I-95 after Thanksgiving and at almost every overpass in the Boynton, Delray, and West Palm area there were trumpers waiving signs and flags.  Inexplicably, people don't hate him down there.  I expect he'll try to put it near downtown West Palm.

Yep, all 1.5 million people in Palm Beach County were at those overpasses  Trump got a larger share of the vote in Duval at 47.4 compared to 43.3.

His dream scenario is Downtown West Palm Beach, but that is a long shot as it is a fairly progressive city and would get tons of blowback. If it's in Florida, my guess is he tries to put it somewhere like Naples or Fort Myers. 

The guy really needs to just lay low for awhile, but I doubt his ego will allow that.

How about at The Villages?

[thelakelander]

^I was thinking the same thing!

[marcuscnelson]

I never said Jacksonville would get a Trump library, if one ever exists, just that Lenny Curry would absolutely go down to Mar-a-Lago and beg for one.

[Adam White]

I never said Jacksonville would get a Trump library, if one ever exists, just that Lenny Curry would absolutely go down to Mar-a-Lago and beg for one.

He's probably searching for his knee pads as we speak.

[jaxlongtimer]

The guy got 74 million votes and over 46% of those who voted, voted for him.

I hate to break it to you, but he's popular (almost) everywhere.

It will be interesting, with the passage of time and Trump's legacy not standing up well to history, to see how many of those 74 million "can't recall" voting for Trump.  It's amazing how many fair weather friends populate the electorate.  We already see this with polling post the election and other recent events.

By the way, if you didn't catch it, be sure to watch a replay of the amazing poem offered today at the inauguration by super gifted/word prodigy Amanda Gordon, only 22 years old but wise way beyond her years, and the nation's youngest poet to participate in an inauguration.  History will likely quote her words, like Maya Angelou's poem recited for Bill Clinton's inauguration, far longer than any other words spoken today.  If you don't find it moving, you may not have blood in your veins .

https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958743170/poet-amanda-gorman-reads-the-hill-we-climb

To add, here is a transcript although hearing her heartfelt delivery added a lot of additional meaning to it:

When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promise to glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it

[MusicMan]

Yes she was excellent. It channels a little Lin-Manuel Miranda in there.  Biden was quite good too IMO. 

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Per articles today, she did quite a bit of research on speeches and other historic presentations relating to transitioning through turbulent times (e.g. Lincoln, Churchill, King, etc.) as well as on/with former inauguration poets.  She also acknowledged repeatedly singing a song from Hamilton to overcome her speech impediment (something she has in common with Biden), particularly saying the letter "r."  So, she definitely has that input.  And, Lin-Manuel Miranda was quick to go Twitter and sing her praises so there definitely is a kindred spirit between them.

She also just reached almost 1 million followers on Twitter today.

Gorman was following in the footsteps of poets like Blanco, Robert Frost and Maya Angelou as she composed the poem "The Hill We Climb" for the inauguration.

She also took her cues from orators like Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. — people who knew a thing or two about calling for hope and unity in times of despair and division.

Gorman told NPR she dug into the works of those speakers (and Winston Churchill, too) to study up on ways "rhetoric has been used for good."

https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958743170/poet-amanda-gorman-reads-the-hill-we-climb

Lin-Manuel Miranda, for one, picked up on the Hamilton references Gorman peppered throughout her poem. The section “history has its eyes on us” is in reference to the Hamilton track “History Has its Eyes on You.” Elsewhere, she writes, “Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,” a section similar to one from the song “One Last Time” as performed in the original Broadway production by Christopher Jackson in the role of George Washington.

“You were perfect,” tweeted Miranda, a man who knows much about word choice and delivery. “Perfectly written, perfectly delivered. Every bit of it. Brava!” Hamilton became a trending topic on Twitter shortly after their exchange. Miranda’s Hamilton collaborator Alex Lacamoire also chimed in, “Ahhhhhh I heard those lines and wondered, ‘is she a HAM fan’?? Thank you for your exceptionally beautiful poem today!”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/amanda-gormans-inauguration-poem-draws-praise-from-oprah-winfrey-lin-manuel-miranda-and-more