When Donald and Melania Trump come out to the predinner standing ovation on the Mar-a-Lago patio around 7:30 p.m., it’s time for the Pledge of Allegiance. “Then everybody claps,” says Mar-a-Lago member and former The Real Housewives of New Jersey member Siggy Flicker. “We do ‘U-S-A, U-S-A.’ People start crying. It’s just beautiful to be out there in the garden. There’s beautiful lighting and everybody’s all around and it’s just a magical place. The energy at Mar-a-Lago right now is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”

Then, over scallops and octopus and braised cabbage, the lobbying begins. Since Donald Trump won the election last week, Mar-a-Lago has been overtaken by billionaire advisers and MAGA believers planning to influence the second Trump term. In the past week, Flicker says she has seen formal and informal advisers on the gilded Palm Beach property, including Elise Stefanik, Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I was just there on Friday having dinner with Kash Patel,” she says of the former Defense staffer rumored to be in consideration for a top job at the CIA or FBI. Elon Musk is there pretty much all the time, sitting at Trump’s table at dinner.

The billionaire X and Tesla owner is around so much he’s even got his own intro music. “I don’t know if you know this, but Trump DJs Mar-a-Lago from his iPad,” says........

© Daily Intelligencer