Ronald Kessler may have resigned himself to shilling for Mitt Romney in this presidential race (for now, anyway), but that doesn’t mean he won’t indulge in a little Trump-fluffing on the side — after all, Kessler helped create the Donald Trump presidential boomlet.
Kessler’s Jan. 11 Newsmax column is quite the slice of Trump-fluffing — amazing given how Trump burned Newsmax by bailing as host of Newsmax’s planned Republican presidential debate, which then collapsed after only two candidates would commit to attending. Kessler tells the story — via Trump’s Florida lawyer, Paul Rampell — of how Trump saved the 140-room Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach by turning it into a private club, which of course, allowed Kessler to revel in his own elbow-rubbing with Trump: “I remember how Trump — a Presbyterian of German descent — imitated the constricted, nasal tones of blue bloods condemning his club when my wife Pam and I were flying on his plane to spend a weekend with him at Mar-a-Lago for research on the book.”
Kessler stays in suck-up mode by recounting Trump’s largesse to friends and how Mar-a-Lago is worth many times more than the $5 million Trump paid for it, quoting Rampell describing how “Trump’s investment in Mar-a-Lago symbolizes the way he operates.”
This comes off as a no-hard-feelings piece from Newsmax, demonstrating that it may still be willing to work with Trump, even after he essentially sabotaged their debate by pulling out.