Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s midterm elections, Donald Trump’s richest and most-devoted fans will have the opportunity to put hundreds of thousands of dollars into his pockets this week, as the pro-Trump CPAC group hosts a four-day conference at his South Florida country club, Mar-a-Lago.

The Conservative Political Action Conference is selling ticket packages for as much as $95,000 to spend time at Trump’s for-profit club in Palm Beach at its co-called “Gathering of Visionaries” that includes, among others, actor Jim Caviezel, Italian “activist and influencer” Lorenzo Caccialupi, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling and Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

“More grift,” said Norm Ornstein, a longtime scholar at the right-of-center American Enterprise Institute. “Of course, the significant share of it will go directly to Trump’s pocket.”

Whether Trump himself will attend any of the events, which could take place in the immediate aftermath of Republicans leaving control of one or both chambers of Congress, is unclear. The White House would not respond to HuffPost queries, and CPAC would not answer any question about the event at all, including how much it was paying for its five days of meetings and meals there, other than to say press would not be permitted to attend.

Trump does, however, often make appearance at functions held at his properties ― wedding receptions at his golf courses, for example ― without any advance notice.

Events at Mar-a-Lago do not come cheaply. Trump in 2018 charged the Republican National Committee $224,858 for a meeting there. Charities holding fundraising events also pay six figures. A dog-rescue group in 2021 paid Mar-a-Lago some $225,000 according to a permit filed with the Town of Palm Beach. The Palm Beach Police and Fire Foundation has paid about that same amount each year for its fundraising ball, according to its IRS filings.

Trump himself joked at a recent rally that average Americans probably would not find the club a good value. “The problem is that for $5,000 the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert,” he said. “I’m not even sure you could buy that.”

President Donald Trump greets Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and his wife as he arrives to speak at the conference on Feb. 22, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. The annual four-day gathering brings together conservative U.S. lawmakers, international leaders, media personalities and businessmen to discuss and champion conservative ideas.

Win McNamee via Getty Images

The CPAC conference, staged by the American Conservative Union, began in 1974 and spent its first decades as a low-key, policy-centric annual event in Washington, D.C.

Since Trump’s rise to the White House and under the leadership of Trump ally Matt Schlapp, though, CPAC has become an international enterprise centered around Trump that has tilted toward ethno-nationalism, holding conferences in Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Brazil under Jair Bolsonaro, now imprisoned for his 2023 failed coup attempt.

Schlapp and his wife, former Trump White House official Mercedes Schlapp, earned $629,804 and $192,125, respectively, from the ACU, for the year ending March 31, 2025, according to the most recent tax filing available for the organization. That combined $821,929 represents 43% of all the employee compensation paid that year.

“It’s all part of the ‘Great Grift’ now,” said one prominent GOP consultant who would only speak on condition of anonymity because of the Schlapps’ proximity to Trump. (“Don’t be trying to get me yelled at before an election. They all keep score on this.”)

Among the questions CPAC officials declined to answer was how many tickets they had sold to the event, which starts Wednesday and runs through Sunday. The “Circle Retreat and Gala,” as CPAC is calling it, lists a total of 19 “featured speakers,” which includes both Schlapps, a CPAC board member, a CPAC “senior advisor,” and CPAC’s United Kingdom chair, former Prime Minister Liz Truss. Also speaking will be Eduardo Bolsonaro, Jair Bolsonaro’s son and brother of Flavio Bolsonaro, who late last month lost his bid for president of Brazil and has now exiled himself to the United States to dodge corruption charges.

A top Florida Republican, also on condition of anonymity, said the event “provides no useful purpose” other than to generate money. “The Schlapps are horrific grifters,” he said.

CPAC’s decision to tie itself to Trump’s fortunes has already affected its stature among non-Trump Republicans.

In the 2016 election cycle, for example, CPAC drew a full dozen presidential aspirants to its annual conference in Washington in 2015: Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul and Trump.

Eight years later, even though as many as 14 Republicans were considering runs, only three attended CPAC: Trump, Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo.