The White House started releasing pertinent details about President Trump’s planned visit to The Villages next week as many residents continued to express interest in being included in the invitation-only affair.
The president is scheduled to speak about Medicare at The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center on Tuesday at about 2:15 p.m. He’s supposed to land at Ocala International Airport aboard Air Force One at about 1 p.m. and then make the 30-mile journey to the mega-retirement community.
It’s unclear whether Trump will make the journey from Ocala by motorcade or if he’ll fly to The Villages via helicopter. If he does choose to travel by helicopter, The Villages Polo Fields would offer a perfect landing spot and it’s less than six miles away from the Sharon.
Trump’s topic of Medicare is particularly pertinent to the 125,000-plus residents of The Villages – the majority of whom are of Medicare age. He has proposed sweeping changes in his latest budget that some are viewing as drastic cuts in the government program totaling about $845 billion over the next 10 years.
But Trump and his staff have repeatedly insisted that he isn’t cutting Medicare at all. Instead, he claims to be axing waste and abuse and pushing reforms that lower drug costs – an area where the government agency spends a great deal of money.
In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was endorsed by Trump in 2016, visited The Villages to sign a bill that could allow Floridians to save money by getting prescription drugs from Canada. That plan, which must be approved by the federal government, has drawn high praise from the president and seems to flow along with his efforts to cut Medicare drug costs.
Trump’s visit to The Villages also makes sense because he enjoys an extremely high level of support among area residents. The biggest backing clearly comes from the members of Villagers for Trump, which formed a little more than year ago and quickly became the choice of Republicans striving to be active in politics in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
Villagers for Trump currently boasts more than 1,700 members and many of them are hoping for the chance to see the president on Tuesday. The group has been able to secure an allotment of tickets and is excited that many of its members will be in the audience to hear what the president has to say after the hard work they’ve put in through monthly rallies, flag-waving events and golf cart parades.
On Thursday, it was revealed that 10 members of the group also are expected to have a private audience with Trump during his visit. He’s expected to get their thoughts on Medicare and share more details about his administration’s plan for the agency.
It’s known that Trump has been aware of Villagers for Trump for quite some time. He met with the group’s vice president, Jim Volpe, this past November at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and saw the group’s program from its 2018 Trump Day Dinner. And in 2016 he tweeted a photo of a golf cart owned by member Denise Neal that sported yellow tissue paper on its roof to look like the president’s hair. That cart has been a staple in several Villagers for Trump golf cart parades that typically run through Lake Sumter Landing and then onto Spanish Springs Town Square.
