Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Neighbors: Get the Hell Off Our Lawn

If you only got your news from Donald Trump, you might think that there was an extremely good chance that, come January 20, he was just going to continue living in the White House for the next four years. Of course, delusions of a madman aside, that’s not going to happen. Instead, in less than five weeks, Trump will be evicted from his current home—either walking out of it or being dragged by the Secret Service as he bites one of the agents’ hands, escapes, and has to be trapped in one of those giant nets used by animal control—for the very last time. At that point, he’ll need a place to live, and having declared residency in Florida last year, Mar-a-Lago would make the most sense, particularly as the president has already begun renovating the place to accommodate him full-time. Except, like most of the country, his future neighbors don’t want him there and are making their complaints loud and clear!

According to The Washington Post, some of Trump’s Palm Beach neighbors have written a formal letter, delivered to both town officials and the Secret Service on Tuesday, stating in no uncertain terms that the president had better find housing elsewhere. Noting an agreement Trump signed in 1993, the letter reminds all those copied that he lost the legal right to live at the club full-time and that in order to “avoid an embarrassing situation” wherein the soon-to-be-former president moves in and then is forced to leave, the town should notify Trump ASAP that he cannot live there.

The current residency controversy tracks back to a deal Trump cut in 1993 when his finances were foundering, and the cost of maintaining Mar-a-Lago was soaring into the multimillions each year. Under the agreement, club members are banned from spending more than 21 days a year in the club’s guest suites and cannot stay there for any longer than seven consecutive days. Before the arrangement was sealed, an attorney for Trump assured the town council in a public meeting that he would not live at Mar-a-Lago.

At the time, the town’s leaders were wary of Trump because he had sued them after they blocked his attempt to subdivide the historic Mar-a-Lago property into multiple housing lots. Placing the limitations on lengths of stays assured that Trump’s property would remain a private club, as he had promised, rather than a residential hotel.

“There’s absolutely no legal theory under which he can use that property as both a residence and a club,” Glenn Zeitz, a nearby homeowner who has joined the fight against Trump, told the Post. “Basically he’s playing a dead hand. He’s not going to intimidate or bluff people because we’re going to be there.”

In addition to the 1993 agreement with the town, Trump also signed a document deeding the development rights to Mar-a-Lago to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which states that he cannot develop or use Mar-a-Lago for “any purpose other than club use.” Unsurprisingly, as is the case today, Trump has repeatedly tried to get out of parts of the agreement, as he obviously views contracts, laws, and promises as things other people, but not him, should be beholden to.

In 2018 he asked the town to waive a provision banning him from building a dock at the club, initially saying the Secret Service and local law enforcement officials needed the structure for his protection. The reasoning was later changed to say the dock was for the private use of the president and first lady Melania Trump. Neighbors feared that the dock would be used for rowdy booze cruises. Trump withdrew the dock request early this year—three days after a Washington Post report that unearthed the details of his 1993 agreement with the town.

The White House did not respond to the Post’s request for comment. A Trump Organization spokesman said, “There is no document or agreement in place that prohibits President Trump from using Mar-a-Lago as his residence,” which might be more convincing if that person hadn’t said so anonymously.

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