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Trump's Mar-a-Lago Partially Shut Down Due To COVID Outbreak, And, Ah, The Irony

by Julie Scagell
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Mar-a-Lago closed covid
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Karma entering the chat like

Former President Donald J. Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, had to be partially closed on Friday after several staff members tested positive for the coronavirus, The New York Times reported.

Service in the dining room and at the beach club were impacted by the closing, causing rich white women to get their tunics in a twist. The Associated Press cited an email that went to members of the club that said the closure happened out of “an abundance of caution” and that some workers were quarantined. The email also said the club had undertaken “all appropriate response measures,” including sanitizing affected areas,” and that banquet and event services remain open.

Of course, upon hearing the news that Trump’s club had to shut down for a virus that he himself downplayed for nearly a year, Twitter erupted with snark like only Twitter can.

Of course, no one at Mar-a-Lago is breathing a word until they find out how a fake virus took down Friday’s Happy Hour of half-priced white wine spritzers and wedge salads because someone is going to pay goddammit.

A woman who answered the phone at Mar-a-Lago said “no comment” and hung up when asked if the club was open, the Times reported. The club is on tap to host events during the Republican National Committee spring retreat next month — and where Trump has been sulking since losing the election to President Biden.

In January, Mar-a-Lago was fined $15,000 by Palm Beach County after a New Year’s Eve party violated an ordinance requiring mask to be worn for all indoor events.

Video of the party posted online by Donald Trump Jr. showed a crowd of around 500 sans masks and “dancing” to the sweet sweet music of Vanilla Ice, Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love, and Taylor Dayne.

“The Irony Gods are just fucking with us now,” one Twitter user wrote. “The 15 (cases in the U.S.) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero,” with the date Trump spoke those words, “2.26.2020.”

Coronavirus cases have been declining in Florida, but the state is still averaging about 5,000 new cases a day, according to a New York Times database.

Spring breakers have been flooding the state, causing many experts to worry another coronavirus surge will be happening as states scramble to get its residents vaccinated.

Last summer, Trump told CBN News that the U.S. “put ourselves at a disadvantage” because we tested so much.

“I told my people. I said, ‘We’ve gotten so good at testing … We test much more than any other nation,’ so you hear about all these cases. So, instead of 25 million tests, let’s say we did 10 million tests. We’d look like we were doing much better because we’d have far fewer cases. You understand that.”

It’s unclear when Mar-a-Lago will resume business as usual, but I will be keeping the members in my thoughts and prayers until that time.

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