Trump picks up $3 million in visit to Palo Alto hills

Supporters and opponents of President Trump lined the narrow roads leading to today's luncheon in the hills. Post photo to Sara Tabin.

President Trump held a $3 million luncheon today for donors at the Los Trancos Road estate of tech billionaire Scott McNealy in the Palo Alto hills.

About 100 protesters lined the road about a mile from McNealy’s residence, with demonstrators inflating giant Baby Trump and Trump Chicken balloons.

There was a heavy police presence on the roads outside the luncheon. Post photo by Sara Tabin.

The event itself was closed to the press, but helicopter images showed a large white tent outside McNealy’s 32,000-square-foot, four-story mansion. The tent was large enough to cover several hundred people.

McNealy’s estate includes a full-size indoor hockey rink, a disco with a dance floor, a hidden safe room, a full gym, wine cellar and a theater, according to a 2010 Post story.

The home, in the 600 block of Los Trancos Road, is close to Portola Valley, and many media reports today incorrectly said the event was taking place in that town. It is, in fact, in Palo Alto, and the Palo Alto City Council approved his plans for a hockey rink in 2010. McNealy was a co-founder of Sun Microsystems.

And the Secret Service was visible on the road leading up to Scott McNealy’s estate. Post photo by Sara Tabin.

Trump arrived in the Bay Area aboard Air Force One, which landed at Moffett Field at 11:02 a.m. He left again just before 3 p.m. to fly to Los Angeles to attend a $5 million Beverly Hills dinner at the home of real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer. He’ll bring in an additional $7 million on Wednesday with a breakfast in Los Angeles and luncheon in San Diego.

Trump is raking in gobs of cash more than a year out from the November 2020 contest, with his campaign and the Republican National Committee pulling in more than $210 million since the start of 2019, Federal Election Commission records show. That’s more than all the current Democrats seeking to replace him raised combined during that period.

President Trump is greeted by Republican National Committeewoman from California Harmeet Dhillon as he arrives at Moffett Field to attend a fundraiser today (Sept. 17). AP photo by Evan Vucci.

The visit this week marks Trump’s fourth visit to the state during his presidency.

On the way to California, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the homelessness problem in the state was out of control. “We can’t let Los Angeles, San Francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what’s happening,” he said.

“The people of San Francisco are fed up, and the people of Los Angeles are fed up. And we’re looking at it, and we’ll be doing something about it,” he added.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, said ahead of Trump’s arrival that he hoped the president would work with the city to end homelessness. He said he had not been invited to meet with the president.

California has long been a key fundraising hotbed for politicians of both parties, which have relied on the entertainment industry and wealthy tech industry heads to finance their political ambitions. But under Trump, the run-of-the-mill fundraising trip has taken on a complicating dimension because of his harsh criticism of the state’s immigration laws and its forest management practices, which he blamed for fatal wildfires.

 

— From staff and wire reports

12 Comments

  1. I wonder how many “never trumpers” were there, who said to themselves I hate this guy but he’s our only hope in keeping the White House. So they held their noses and wrote a check.

  2. Sad how these protesters can’t get over the fact that Trump was legitimately elected President. You’d think by now that they would have accepted reality and moved on with their lives. So sad. A waste.

  3. How disgusting that the head of the CA National Republican Committee called the protestors “criminal elements” and “garbage.” Guess she forgot that Trump lost the popular vote by 3,000,000. It also shows how little regard the GOP has for democracy and fair elections.

    • What’s disgusting is the Obama administration’s illegal surveillance of Donald Trump to benefit the corrupt Hillary Clinton. Watergate was nothing compared to this criminal conspiracy. Or how the Democrats and the mass media have demonized President Trump in a way that even Hitler or Stalin never were. Judging by the photos the Post has published though the characterization of the protesters seems to be unfair, they’re just losers.

  4. Trump is proving to be the tonic Washington needed. He’s a shock to both parties who have gone to sleep in DC. The Left is off in fantasies while their big cities fail. They really need to take a long, hard look at themselves. The Democrats completely phony theater at the Kavanaugh hearing – trying to destroy a highly respected Appellate judge and his family with lies) and the Russian accusations (the Russians have been into everyones politics for decades) are in the truest sense deplorable (with a nod to Hillary). Geez, get over the loss people. Dems try to paint the R’s as indifferent fat cats soaking the poor. Look at the rich in CA – Zuckerberg building big brother is a far,far greater threat to our children and the future than Trump but no one around here seems to care as long as the money flows.
    I was skeptical. China doesn’t seem to understand thievery and fair markets. Europe is a mess. The UK can’t even decide what it wants. Trump isn’t easy to watch but he’s what the country needs. In the Middle East, the Jews are never going to play fair with the Palestinians and much of the rest is stuck in medieval ignorance. The world needs Trump. Trump in 2020!

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