• Subscriptions
    • Log in
    Ad-Free Login - Go Ad-Free & Join The Movement
    Don’t Sit on the Sidelines of History. Support Honest News. Join for $1 today.
    Don’t Sit on the Sidelines of History. Support Honest News. Join for $1 today.Click to enable push notifications.
    Listen Now: The New Raw Story PodcastUS NEWSOpinionvideoget the newsletter
    AD-FREE LOGIN
    Ad-Free Login - Go Ad-Free & Join The Movement
    Don’t Sit on the Sidelines of History. Support Honest News. Join for $1 today.
    Don’t Sit on the Sidelines of History. Support Honest News. Join for $1 today.Click to enable push notifications.
    • Home
    • New: Shop to Support Independent Journalism
    • We Have Issues
    • Trump
    • U.S. News
    • Video
    • Ad-Free Login
    Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.
    JOIN FOR $1

    Trump's Florida voter registration trips up his Mar-a-Lago plans

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory
    May 17, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    Donald Trump and Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago (Photo: Screen capture)

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory

    Amid all the intensity and serious of pandemic, this little fable with no international significance has been percolating over in a quiet corner of our world.


    Once upon a time, a couple of months ago, Donald Trump moved his formal residence – and voting address – from the gilded Trump Tower in New York City to the equally exclusive Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. But, in doing so, he stubbed his toe on local regulations that now are keeping him from adding a dock to his property.

    Maybe he plans to move from golf to boating. More likely, he wanted to serve his high-flying friends and visitors at Mar-a-Lago by providing a waterside mooring.

    Now, Trump has ended up withdrawing his dock request after The Washington Post disclosed that there was a local law requiring that only residential owners are eligible for docks in the interior south Florida waterways.

    Ah, therein lies the quandary: At the time of purchasing Mar-a-Largo in 1993, Trump signed agreements with the town of 8,000 that he was opening a club, not a residence. The town was wary about new water traffic in converting Mar-a-Lago from a single-family residence to a private club owned by a corporation that Trump controls.

    The agreement also bans members from using the club’s guest rooms for longer than seven days at a time three times a year. Trump’s attorney at the time, Paul Rampell, assured town council members that he would not live at the club.

    So, he owns a club, not a private residence, which means that in registering to vote, just maybe Trump has made his voting address moot.

    Indeed, he has created, you know, just the kind of mail ballot fraud he bleats about, since he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican presidential primary.

    Having it Both Ways

    It turns out that the Palm Beach town council has been staying at home. Expecting bad news, Trump’s lawyers withdrew this dock request by mail and promised to revisit it when the council is meeting physically again, but without mentioning coronavirus.

    Trump’s Palm Beach neighbors and their attorneys accused him and his legal team of trying to jam through the dock request while attention is focused on the unnamed pandemic.

    But we’re skipping the good part beyond the dock. If it’s a club and not a residence, Trump can’t legally use it as a residence. Doing so is, how-you-say, illegal.

    Reginald Stambaugh, lawyer for one of Mar-a-Lago’s neighbors, notes that besides the dock, “One prevalent issue remains lingering, whether President Trump still considers Mar-a-Lago Club his residence. He still can’t have it both ways. It’s either a club or a residence — not both. Florida’s voting laws apply to citizen Trump. If he resides there, he will have to close the club.”

    The 1993 agreement also banned construction of a dock, but Trump was asking for that condition to be waived. Trump’s lawyer originally argued that the dock was necessary for the president’s protection, an assertion in the dock application that made no mention of Mar-a-Lago being the president’s home. In a later application, the rationale was changed, with Trump asserting that the club is his “personal residence.”

    “The request is simply to add an accessory structure,” his attorney wrote. “A dock for private family use only.”

    Hypocrisy Reigns

    As a fable, it may be like learning not to throw rocks at mail-in ballot windows if you live in a glass house. Or maybe it is like the fisherman who wanted a larger and more golden palace before the dream disappeared. Or wanting too many grapes from the ground. But old Aesop would have had a ball with this one.

    Poor little rich boy gets dream house that he cloaks in corporate clothes and more riches, only to get tripped up by the mundane tasks of registering to vote.

    You call it home, I call it club. Let’s call the whole thing off.

    Or how about just stop complaining about non-existent fraud in mail-in ballots.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Enjoy good journalism?

    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

    We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.

    Value Raw Story?

    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.

    Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
    READ COMMENTS - JOIN THE DISCUSSION

    Should Trump be allowed back on social media?

    'You can't win anything nationally': Nicolle Wallace's panel tells GOP to stop being a slave to 'Trump cult'

    Sarah K. Burris
    April 21, 2021

    Former DNI John Bolton's super PAC published polling data that he said proves supporting President Donald Trump is a pathway to Republican losses. While Trump's numbers are great for a Republican Party primary, the GOP is slowly losing its voters outside of the most ardent Trump supporters.

    I just released a new poll that reveals Trump's GOP base is weakening. This is the first in a series of surveys exp… https://t.co/zwIfZsMceS
    — John Bolton (@John Bolton)1618929760.0

    MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace confessed that she had a million questions about the idea of polling Trump's "personality" as favorable or unfavorable.

    "But what I wanted to know was, what is lumped into personality? Right?" she said. "Is it the big lie? Inciting an insurrection? It is all about it Independents do not like Trump anymore? And may have taken a few years but I think the harder question for Republicans to answer is then this is who you are, right? I think that's probably the conclusion you've reached."

    Former Republican Tim Miller explained that Bolton's numbers are good, showing that "56 percent of voters in 2024 don't want to vote for Trump." But the problem is that 44 percent do. So, that's pretty alarming."

    "If you look at the Republicans the 2024 head to head is 50 Trump, 50 everybody else and undecided," he continued. "That's a good position for somebody running in 2024 and a long way off. The important takeaway is that yes Independents are repelled by him and, yes attracted to Joe Biden's agenda. Joe Biden should keep on ... and the Republican Party needs to decide will we try to attract the Independents or continue in this protracted battle appealing to the 50 percent, the half of the base that is really in a Trump cult, and right now they're all deciding with the exception of Liz Cheney, yes to appeal to that Trump cult."

    Wallace confessed that as a political campaign nerd, but noted that the shrinking party registration among Republicans and increase in Independents show a "perilous" future for the GOP.

    "I don't think you can run someone who's minus 20 among Independents if you've got 20 to 29 to 25 is the drop in Republican registration just last year, pre-insurrection and pre what happened last night," Wallace noted. "Do you think that the calculation will be let's try to harden -- the calculation now seems to be let's harden the 25 percent. You can't win anything nationally with 25 percent."

    Miller said it's one of the many reasons why he agrees with the strive to look at underlying data and how difficult it will be to try and appeal to the GOP base while also trying to win Independent voters who left the GOP.

    "The problem is that they have to deal with primary electorates," Miller continued. "A lot of them are in red states where is the numbers are different and totally not interested in appealing to the suburbs because of the political incentives that they face. Look. I think that we, you know -- they're making a rational choice for the narrow political interests. They're stuck between the rock and the hard place and it's why Bolton is trying to encourage them to move off Trump by showing the Independent numbers and I think that's the main thing here."

    See the discussion below:


    The Trump cold that "can't win" anymore www.youtube.com

    Michigan Republican wants to ban Secretary of State from mailing absentee ballot applications: report

    Sky Palma
    April 21, 2021

    House Republican lawmakers are trying to make big changes to budget bill that would "eliminate [Michigan's] Secretary of State's ability to mail absentee ballot applications and establish a timeline for reviewing petition initiatives," the Detroit Free Press reports.

    "The budget is always an important place to focus on government efficiency. Local clerks have always had responsibility for sending out absentee ballot applications – the Secretary of State created confusion among the public and press by sending out a mass mailing last year," said Rep. Greg VanWoerkom, R-Norton Shores and lead sponsor of the budget bill.

    "This eliminates confusion, makes the process simpler to understand, and keeps the exact same level of service and access for voters," he added.

    According to the Detroit Free Press, the bill aligns with Republicans' push to propose measures across the nation that would likely make it harder to vote.

    Read the full report over at The Detroit Free Press.

    Joe Biden hails 'stunning' US achievement in giving 200 million vaccine doses

    Agence France-Presse
    April 21, 2021

    President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed his government's "stunning" achievement in administering 200 million Covid-19 vaccine shots across the United States ahead of schedule.

    Biden said the landmark had been reached a week before he hits his administration's 100-day mark -- the deadline he'd announced for meeting the 200 million doses challenge.

    "Today we did it, today we hit 200 million shots," he said in a televised speech from the White House. This is "an incredible achievement for the nation."

    Biden called the 200 million shots in 100 days a "goal unmatched in the world or in prior mass vaccination efforts in American history."

    "The progress we've made has been stunning," he said.

    Announcing a tax break to encourage businesses to give all employees a day off for vaccinations, Biden said the country was still "on track" to being able to celebrate the July 4th Independence Day holiday in relative normality.

    But he warned that rising infection rates in parts of the country showed that it was too early to declare victory.

    "If we let up now and stop being vigilant, this virus will erase the progress," he said.

    While the United States leads the world in reported Covid-19 deaths, it has also raced ahead in the vaccination stakes, outperforming some major European countries and neighboring Canada.

    Biden came into office on January 20 initially vowing to get 100 million shots administered in his first 100 days. On March 25, with vaccination deliveries far ahead of their targets, he doubled the goal.

    Starting in May, all states will be required to lift restrictions on eligibility for access to the free shots. Many have already done that.

    Dampening the celebratory mood in the White House is a surge of infection rates in parts of the country, including the state of Michigan.

    Death rates, however, remain down nationwide as a result of the high vaccination rate among the elderly and improved care.

     
    Trending
    Latest
    Videos

    McEnany lectures Biden: 'It's the role of the president of the United States to stay back, to not inflame'

    There's a disturbing link between Trump support and sickness – according to this conservative pundit

    Trump's legacy is being humiliatingly defeated by $5 ladders: 'Unlike the wall, these are functional'

    The Republican base is 'vanishing': These figures show why the GOP is hell-bent on voter suppression

    Ohio cops say 'blue lives matter' after colleague shoots and kills teenage girl

    ‘A real hero’: Man threw himself in front of racist ‘nut job’ to save children during California shooting

    Maria Bartiromo snips at Joe Biden: 'If we are so systemically racist, why did we elect a Black man?'

    Foxconn 'mostly abandons' its Trump-hyped plant that promised tens of thousands of jobs

    GOP's Steve Scalise says DC doesn't deserve statehood because it's overrun with 'criminals'

    'You can't win anything nationally': Nicolle Wallace's panel tells GOP to stop being a slave to 'Trump cult'

    Michigan Republican wants to ban Secretary of State from mailing absentee ballot applications: report

    Joe Biden hails 'stunning' US achievement in giving 200 million vaccine doses

    Police fatally shoot Black father after he ‘started to drive away’ – his family says he never carried a gun

    Derek Chauvin is in solitary confinement — but it’s probably for his own protection

    Matt Gaetz looks like a 'desperate man' who may be 'increasingly isolated': report

    Louis DeJoy’s postal inspectors are secretly monitoring social media accounts via a ‘covert’ program: report

    Arizona lawmaker uses racist slur and calls for Black representative to ‘be sat down’ and not ‘be allowed to speak’

    Columbus official on Ma'Khia Bryant shooting: ‘I understand the outrage’ but ‘the video shows there is more to this’

    'Not a good idea': Neil Cavuto corrects Dr. Ben Carson after he pushes hydroxychloroquine on live TV

    WATCH: Tucker Carlson abruptly ends interview after ex-NYPD officer schools him on Derek Chauvin's unjustified use of force

    VIDEO: Neo-Nazis hold pitiful rally in Arizona – then their ‘commander’ gets arrested for threatening Black men

    ‘A hit dog will holler’: Congresswoman slammed for claiming Biden and Harris ‘say we’re all racists’

    'That's what animals do': Ben Carson objects to people fighting for 'racial equity'

    GOP gubernatorial candidate in Virginia fumes over Derek Chauvin conviction: It 'makes me sick'

    Enraged woman caught on video slapping Asian woman for speaking Mandarin: 'I don't want you talking!'

    'Barron 2052': Jordan Klepper goes deep into the MAGAverse and finds frightening new Trump obsession

    'Let this be a turning point': Chauvin conviction sparks calls for 'true justice'

     
     

    Copyright © 2021 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections or concerns, please email corrections@rawstory.com.

    Manage Preferences

    Don't Sit on the Sidelines of History. Join Raw Story Investigates and Go Ad-Free. Support Honest Journalism.

    Subscribe Annually

    $95 / year — Just $7.91/month

    Subscribe Monthly

    $1 trial

    I want to Support More

    $14.99 per month

    Pro-Trump convention featured 'open bloodlust' as attendees cheered calls to execute political foes

    Judge Emmet Sullivan cites Donald Trump's 'continued' election lies as reason not to release rioter

    ‘Scumbag’: Right-wing radio host faces furious backlash after sharing racist image in response to Chauvin verdict

    {{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}