President Donald Trump hosted a New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago, welcoming family, friends, and at least one fellow world leader to his Palm Beach resort for an ostentatious end to a tumultuous year.
Joined by first lady Melania Trump, the pair welcomed guests including Eric Trump and his wife Lara, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, several conservative media personalities, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara.
Just hours after he lashed out at several perceived foes, including two-time Oscar winner George Clooney, on Truth Social, Trump shared that his wish for 2026 is “peace on Earth.” Netanyahu is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Other guests included conservative radio host Howie Carr—who posted a photo from the event to X with the caption, “New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago: where the champagne is cold, the liberals are warm… and still mad”— as well as U.S. attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro and Trump’s antisemitism task force chief Leo Terrell.
The event featured a charity auction for which an artist created a live painting of Jesus Christ that was subsequently auctioned off for $2.75 million.
The New Year’s Eve party is one of many the president has hosted at his Palm Beach resort during the first year of his second term.
For Halloween, Trump threw a tone-deaf party themed around F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby just hours before more than 40 million Americans lost access to SNAP benefits because of the government shutdown.
Trump has also spent a significant chunk of his second term golfing, including at Mar-a-Lago. According to the Trump Golf Tracker, the president spent a quarter of the year at golf clubs, visiting them a whopping 88 times since returning to the White House in January.
Trump’s end-of-year celebration comes as voter confidence in his ability to lead the country and manage the economy continues to deteriorate.
New polling shows that 45 percent of Americans feel their financial security is getting worse, and 57 percent believe the country is dealing with an economic recession.
In addition, polling conducted by Politico in November found that nearly half of Americans find it difficult to afford necessities like groceries, utility bills, health care, housing, and transportation.
As a result, Trump is entering 2026 with a net approval rating of -17 percent, with 56 percent of voters disapproving of his performance.
Longtime GOP strategist Karl Rove even dedicated his final Wall Street Journal column of 2025 to warning Republicans that the biggest threat to Trump’s second-term agenda may be the president himself.
“His pace is unrelenting... [it’s] also unsustainable. There are signs that the public is tiring of his hyperbole and insatiable desire for retribution. Increasingly, they may hear only the offensive or cruel things he says,” Rove wrote.
“There’s almost no authority figure or august body in our society in which most people have confidence. That’s dangerous for the country.”
