Things were far friendlier in the ballroom, with the president’s pals and others who just played nice for the evening Palm Beach-style, meandering from the poolside cocktails to the dance floor. Bewigged servers and entertainers wore gowns and get-ups that looked like castoffs from Marie Antoinette and Co.’s closets, per social media evidence and a spy or two in the room (the annual fundraiser, a highlight of the town’s social calendar, was oddly closed to the media this year).

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Crystal candelabras, opulent palm tree centerpieces and gold-toned place settings contributed to the welcome-to-my-chateau vibe.

The Trumps took it all in from the head table, where the president sat with his wife on one side and commerce secretary nominee (and Palm Beach denizen) Wilbur Ross on the other. In remarks before taking a spin on the dance floor, Trump praised both the Red Cross and ball co-chair J.J. Cafaro, a mall developer convicted in 2002 of bribing former congressman Jim Traficant and in 2010 for not disclosing donations to his daughter’s failed congressional campaign.

According to one attendee, Trump stayed for hours and seemed to be reveling in the glow of acceptance of a Palm Beach crowd that had once viewed the nouveau riche developer with skepticism. Standing at a dais festooned with the presidential seal, with a glittering gold curtain behind him, Trump looked proud of the trappings of the presidency as he surveyed a room fit for a king (the Donald J. Trump ballroom, after all, was constructed to look like Versailles Hall of Mirrors).