Mar-a-Lago is dubbed Trump’s ‘winter White House,’ and critics are as cold as ice

Three little words really set off some people Wednesday.

Not these: Supreme Court nominee.

These: Winter White House.

Press secretary Sean Spicer used the phrase at a briefing when he said President Donald Trump is expected to spend this weekend at his Mar-a-Lago private club in Palm Beach, Fla.

Spicer referred to the Mediterranean-style estate — where the initiation fee reportedly doubled to $200,000 after Trump became president — as the “winter White House.”

The 20-acre resort, with a main mansion with more than 100 rooms, has a beach club, pools, tennis courts, a restaurant and a 20,000-square-foot ballroom, according to CNBC.

That is not a White House, people on Twitter declared.

Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. The only White House is the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., people on social media argued.

Some people were so angry they tweeted the phone number for Mar-A-Lago, hinting that phone calls would be appreciated.

Then came the memes.

Trump referred to the resort as the “winter White House” in a tweet he sent out earlier this month that he said showed him writing his inauguration speech there.

He will be the fourth president to make a South Florida residence a second White House, James C. Clark, author of the book “Presidents in Florida,” told Politico.

Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post completed Mar-a-Lago in 1927 and willed it to the U.S. government in 1937 to be used as a presidential estate, Clark said.

When the government didn’t want to pay for the upkeep, the property returned to the Post Foundation, and Trump bought it in 1985, Clark said.

“All these years later, it’s finally a winter White House and Donald Trump will be the president in it,” Clark told Politico. “Who would have dreamed of that?”

CNBC reported last week that people close to the resort confirmed that the initiation fee for the resort, owned by the Trump Organization, had increased on Jan. 1.

Trump resigned as CEO of his namesake organization, which is now run by his two sons. But Mar-a-Lago membership now includes the chance to mingle with POTUS, CNBC pointed out.

On top of the initiation fee of $200,000 plus tax, members also pay $14,000 a year in annual dues (plus tax), according to CNBC.

Though some people blanched at the ritzy resort being referred to as an alternative White House, others weren’t so bothered, arguing that the country has bigger fish to fry.

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Mar-a-Lago is dubbed Trump’s ‘winter White House,’ and critics are as cold as ice."