Trump holding birthday rally for hardcore fans – but they have to pay to attend

Donald Trump turns 78 years old on Friday and will celebrate his birthday in the company of his “Club 47 USA” fan organisation in West Palm Beach, Florida, delivering a keynote address to guests paying between $35 and $60 for the pleasure of wishing him well.

According to a flyer for the celebration, the party-cum-rally will take place at the Palm Beach County Convention Center near his Mar-a-Lago home from 3pm ET, with the former president taking to the stage to speak at approximately 7pm local time.

“Join us in celebrating the birthday of the best president ever Donald J Trump”, the flyer invites its members, promoting the gathering with a picture of the birthday boy gripping the American flag at CPAC surrounded by clip art balloons.

Attendees are instructed to wear red, white and blue outfits and are assured that parking is “free and easy”.

The Independent has reached out to Trump’s representatives and Club 47 for more information on what else might transpire at an event whose 5,000 tickets have already sold out, according to club president Larry Snowden. It was not immediately clear what the proceeds from the event would be used for.

The former president last addressed the club in October 2023, shortly after Hamas had launched its terror attack on Israel, leading to the current conflict in Gaza.

The fan group takes its name from the Republican’s ambitions of becoming America’s 47th president (he is already its 45th) and, on Thursday, he was presented with a cake by GOP senators in Washington DC that originally had 45 candles before John Barrasso of Wyoming added two more for the same reason.

Trump’s fellow Republicans also reportedly sang him “Happy Birthday!” and gifted him a baseball and bat from their annual congressional game.

“We’re all committed to make sure he becomes the 47th president,” Barrasso told reporters afterwards.

“As he was sitting there, I pull them out, put them on. He loved it. And that was the last big applause at the end, when you heard that.”

While the former president, who never touches alcohol, typically celebrated his birthdays in restrained fashion during his presidency, he once partied far more extravagantly, particularly in his younger days as the toast of New York in the 1980s and 1990s.

His 42nd birthday in 1988, for instance, featured a “15-foot spaceship zooming from the stage to hover amid smoke and flashing lasers above Trump and his [then] wife Ivana”, according to The Washington Post.

There were also magicians, dancers performing to Michael Jackson’s “Bad” and congratulatory telegrams read out by celebrities including Liza Minnelli and Billy Crystal.

In 1993, when he turned 47, Trump was treated to a “Renaissance Man” party by his second wife Marla Maples.

He was depicted as a king brandishing a sword on the invitations while the Crystal Ballroom of his Castle casino (now the Golden Nugget) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was decked out with banners depicting his “kingdoms”, namely his casinos and resorts.

Guests were promised dancing and live jousting.

An even more garish invite a year later indicates that another party, held at the same venue, was Tarzan-themed and billed Trump as “Lord of the Financial Jungle”.

For his 50th in 1996, waiters in white gloves served champagne and strawberries while a violin trio greeted guests at the door of Trump Tower.

The host was presented with a chocolate cake decorated with a portrait of himself as Superman, a dollar sign emblazoned on the Man of Steel’s chest in place of the signature “S” as he flew past Trump Organization properties dotting the Big Apple skyline.

He has recently revived that iconography on his money-spinning range of digital trading cards.