Members are quitting Mar-a-Lago because it has become a 'sad' and 'dispirited' place since Trump moved in, author says

• Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf resort has become a 'sad place' since he moved in, an expert on the resort told MSNBC.
• Members are quitting and want nothing to do with Trump, Laurence Leamer told the cable channel.
• Previous reports said that Trump's Florida neighbors have taken legal action to stop him from taking up residence.
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Former President Donald Trump's return to his glitzy Florida golf resort — Mar-a-Lago – has reportedly not been met with fanfare by the club's wealthy members.

Mar-a-Lago's mood is "dispirited," and people are canceling their memberships, the author of a book on the resort told MSNBC.

"I've talked to a bunch of people the last couple of days," Laurence Leamer told the cable channel. "A lot of people have quit Mar-a-Lago."

The author of "Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace" then remarked that members are leaving due to concerns that they might be featured in newspaper articles.

Read more: 10 huge hits to Trump's business from the pandemic that may be permanent.

Leamer says Trump's declining popularity has also turned off members.

He told MSNBC: "They don't want anything to do with Donald Trump. Many of the members, they're not going there very often because it's a very dispirited place."

He continued: "It's a sad place for Trump to be hanging out. It's not what it was."

Leamer later added: "They're walking away from him. Even here, people don't like him."

Members, who pay $200,000 to join the club, have voiced their concern about Trump's return to Mar-a-Lago.

It has been reported that his neighbors have been taking legal to prevent the former president from permanently residing there. They are reportedly taking legal action to try and prevent the move from becoming permanent, according to The Washington Post.

The neighbors wrote a secret letter to Palm Beach authorities and the US Secret Service arguing that Trump has no legal right to live at Mar-a-Lago full-time, The Post reported.

It said that authorities should notify Trump that he is not allowed to become a permanent resident to avoid an "embarrassing situation" whereby he would be evicted, the paper said.

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