OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrats talk about “unity,” yet some are literally trying to kick former President Donald Trump and his family out of their home in Florida.
After months of back-and-forth, Palm Beach, Florida, Town Council President Margaret Zeidman said Trump is allowed to live at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
His announcement comes after a dispute with Trump’s neighbors, who have alleged the 45th president is in violation of an agreement with the town and want him evicted, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
“It seems there is nothing … that would prohibit him from living in the owner’s suite,” Zeidman said.
The town council addressed the issue of Trump’s residency but did not take an official vote on the legal question, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Trump has lived at the resort since leaving the White House last month.
Some residents near the resort claim a 1993 agreement with the town limits the amount of time Trump or anyone else can live at Mar-a-Lago to 21 days a year.
However, the former president’s lawyer John Marion said Trump is free to live there under the town’s zoning rules since he is a “bona fide employee” of the club, given his role as president of the Mar-a-Lago Club.
Philip Johnston, who represents Preserve Palm Beach, told the town council that neighbors are worried Trump’s residency would “make Mar-a-Lago into a permanent beacon for his more rabid, lawless supporters,” the Sun-Sentinel reports.
Johnston asked for the council to prepare a detailed legal response by April.
The Sun-Sentinel notes the town does not seem inclined to rule against Trump, and town attorney John Randolph advised the council that the former president could live at the resort if determined to be a “bona fide employee” of the Mar-a-Lago Club.
“The language in the agreement regulating the use of guest suites to members for limited periods of time is not applicable to this situation,” said Randolph, the town attorney.
The Town Council did not take a vote. But it was clear that members had no appetite to pick a fight with the former president if he even wants to live here year-round.
“It does not appear to me that there has been a violation,” said Margaret A. Zeidman, the council president.
“I can only hope that once again civility, courtesy, and partnership come into the community,” Mayor Gail L. Coniglio said at the start of the meeting.
Jennifer McGrath, of Jupiter, sent a letter to the editor to The Palm Beach Daily News last month that criticized the paper for what she considered critical coverage of Mr. Trump.
“There are a lot of people that are not angry about his living there,” McGrath said in an interview. “It’s ridiculous. He’s entitled to live wherever he wants to live, where he has a residence.”
