The shutters are down, the curtains are open, and Donald Trump's opulent waterfront palace of intrigue is open for business once more. A succession of ambitious, ultra-loyal subjects have paraded through, vying for attention and seeking favors from the throne. Servants fall over themselves to indulge their master's every whim. And then there are the jesters...
Given this week's extraordinary developments at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, as he builds the cabinet with which he will govern in January, it is difficult to escape the notion that the operation is being run something akin to a royal court.
Trump certainly gives the appearance of acting as America's first monarch since the official end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, plotting, scheming and playing favorites, and setting individuals against each other as his courtiers are assembled.
His unexpected nomination for attorney general of the Mar-a-Lago regular Matt Gaetz, the controversial Florida congressman under investigation for sexual misconduct, was a power move that wrong-footed even his closest advisers, and threw a gauntlet to Republicans in the US Senate who must confirm the appointment.
It followed Trump's equally astonishing choice a day earlier of a weekend presenter from the rightwing TV station Fox News to be the US defense secretary in charge of the world's largest and most potent military: Pete Hegseth, the ultimate entertainer who caught the eye of the king.
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