Trump in Exile

Filled with deep insights and never-before-seen details, Trump in Exile is an explosive, all-access account from behind the scenes at Mar-a-Lago as former president Donald Trump regroups from an election defeat that he refuses to acknowledge and plots his return.

The Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, put a horrific closing note on a norm-shattering presidency, as the twice-impeached Donald Trump rode a wave of denial and resentment out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and crashed back at Mar-a-Lago—seemingly wounded, seemingly done.

But he wasn’t. And what, exactly, was he building in there?

Meridith McGraw vividly chronicles the incredible period of Trump’s exile in South Florida—a postpresidency like no other in American history—and brings us inside the gilded walls of his private club, where an alternate reality in which the 2020 election was stolen became Republican Party orthodoxy. How did the country go from Trump’s political banishment to his renewed dominance over his party, as he effortlessly destroyed the once-formidable Ron DeSantis and now stands on the verge of returning to the White House—all while facing the heavy shadow of multiple federal and state criminal indictments? The Mar-a-Lago period is essential for understanding Trump’s implausible resurgence and the many missed opportunities to stop him.

From a reporter who has covered the Trump era from its beginning, through the White House years, to his 2024 campaign, Meridith McGraw’s Trump in Exile is riveting contemporary history, vital to our understanding of this defining American moment.