Laurence Leamer has authored a new book about President Donald Trump's life in Palm Beach, Florida at his private club Mar-a-Lago.
In a Wednesday interview with Don Lemon, Leamer explained that Trump loves his adopted home because people there worship him.
It didn't start out that way, however.
"Right at the beginning of Trump's presidency," Lemon began, reading excerpts of the book. "You said Trump let the Secret Service know he intended to visit Mar-a-Lago and with all the people who would be running in and out of the club, they quickly recognized the immense challenges his request would create. Trump didn't seem to care what problems he presented to the Secret Service. He was used to getting whatever he wanted. He didn't care about the cost or the disruptions."
Lemon noted that the book describes Trump as being the so-called King of Palm Beach.
"Yeah, that's what he says, and he is the king," said Leamer. "He changed this island. It used to be a sedate, conservative place. Kind of old money -- old WASP money. He came and bowled his way in there. It's a new elite, a gilded age. Forty billionaires in Palm Beach -- he's one of them. They are the people that matter, and they are the people that matter to his presidency in many ways."
Leamer said that all Trump cares about is money and wealth and has it on full display in Florida. In the early days he was seen as a "lowlife, and a vulgar interloper by the old society folks." Now things have changed. "They all kiss my ass," Trump told Leamer.
"I mean he doesn't care about class," the author said. "He doesn't care about law. He cares about money. Money is what matters to this guy, and those are the people he wants around him. And those are the people he has -- that's what Palm Beach is about."
He went on to describe it as nothing like an actual club where people play tennis or swim. Mar-a-Lago is more like a "dinner club" where wealthy people can drop $5,000 on a meal with the president.
"Well, that's the common man," Lemon joked. "That's the working class."
Leamer also said that Trump not being in the club for Christmas was a huge problem for him.
"I think that bothered him enormously," he said. "This is his spiritual home. He loves being there. He's created this world around him, Don, where people tell him he's great. Wherever he walks, he's got people coming up to him saying, 'You're great, Donald!' He needs to get back. He's coming down there this weekend. It's going to be an extraordinary event this weekend when he's there. When he's there, everybody comes to the club. People fight to get there, to try to get dinner reservations because he sits on the veranda outside for his three-hour dinners and everybody is around him. He just loves that."
He made it seem like Trump holds court like royalty surrounded by gilded embellishments and lavish affairs.
Trump is headed to Mar-a-Lago this weekend.
Watch the interview below: