There is a pizza joint in New Jersey that might just be one of the most unlikely crossroads of global power. Bedminster Pizza serves buffalo chicken pies, gets decent Yelp reviews, and occasionally takes pickup orders for the president of the United States — when Donald Trump is in town.
“He likes the meatballs,” said one of the staff on a Thursday lunchtime. They get busier in the summer, when Trump descends with cabinet members, Secret Service agents, and whatever entourage currently surrounds his gravitational political pull. Just four miles away sits the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, often dubbed the “Summer White House,” and arguably the epicenter of Trump’s post-presidency persona — half fortress, half shrine, and now part family tomb.
When Trump bought the 520-acre estate in 2002, it was a quiet stretch of hunt-country grandeur called Lamington Farm, once home to a horse-loving aristocracy and later the dream project of John DeLorean, the cocaine-indicted creator of the Back to the Future car. After DeLorean’s bankruptcy, the land nearly withered into obscurity, until Trump swooped in post-9/11 and wrote a check. “Bring your lawyer,” he told the previous developer. “Let’s make a deal.”
The mansion became the clubhouse. Dark wood, magazine covers, and equestrian paintings adorn the rooms. A ballroom was added, and Trump’s golden aesthetic crept into the estate just enough to remind everyone whose name was on the flags. Architect Tom Fazio, tasked with sculpting the fairways, said Trump would “chopper in” constantly. “He calls you at all hours. Good thing he doesn’t drink. Can you imagine all that on booze?”
The property became a magnet for power weddings, foreign dignitaries, golf championships, and eventually — after the Capitol riot tanked its US PGA hosting status — a surreal mix of governance and pageantry. Trump interviewed cabinet candidates there in 2016, casually telling members they could “drop in” on interviews with America’s future leaders.
That same year, Trump told those dining nearby, “This is my real group — you are the special people.” The Secret Service even had to erect a wall around Trump’s cottage — ironically, one of the only walls he’s successfully built.
It’s not just a golf course. Bedminster is a sanctuary, a stage, and, increasingly, a cemetery. In 2007, Trump’s reps proposed a mausoleum near the first hole. After that was shut down, a more modest family plot was proposed — just ten graves for “only the good Trumps,” as one associate put it.
In 2022, the first grave was filled. Ivana Trump, Donald’s first wife, was buried behind the tee of the second course. The site is quiet, scenic, and apparently beloved by Ivana’s granddaughter Kai, who plays there often and even called her grandfather from the fairway to report a stellar score.
“I just shot a 32,” she said.
“So did I,” Trump replied.
Bedminster isn’t just where Trump hides from Washington — it’s where he marries off his daughter, hosts Viktor Orbán, plots policy, stashes alleged classified documents (according to now-dismissed charges), eats meatballs, and may one day be buried himself.
This strange sprawl of manicured grass, candlelit dining rooms, and private cottages decorated with photographs of Trump and Michael Jackson is not just a golf club. It’s the embodiment of his myth, a kingdom built not on governance, but on spectacle, loyalty, and legacy.
One day, Bedminster may not just be the “Summer White House.” It may be the eternal one.
Source: Times, UK
