Donald Trump stung in hometown newspaper: Shouldn’t “have a felon” leader

Former President Donald Trump has been stung by a hometown newspaper editorial that argues the country should not “have a felon as its leader.”

Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee in this year’s presidential election, was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York last week. He maintains his innocence and claims without evidence that President Joe Biden, his opponent in November, was somehow behind the charges.

On Wednesday, the editorial staff of Trump’s hometown paper, The Palm Beach Post, argued in an opinion article that Trump’s newfound status as a felon should rule out a presidential comeback. The ex-president has officially resided at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach since 2019.

The article asks voters to “reflect on their values” when considering allowing “a felon in the White House,” while saying that many Americans are “OK with” Trump’s alleged ethos of “truth is transactional, loyalty is one-way and values are for suckers.”

The paper points out that the election will likely hinge on undecided voters and asks the group to consider whether Trump, convicted on “a mountain of evidence” in New York, is “worthy to again preside over the most important nation on Earth.”

“To those of you who have not yet made up your minds, we suggest this would be a good time for introspection,” the article argues. “Ask yourself what’s important to you in a leader’s character, and what kind of world you want your children and grandchildren to inherit.”

“We’re agreed on one thing: America, a shining beacon for democracy worldwide, shouldn’t have a leader behind bars,” it concludes. “But nor should it have a felon as its leader.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Wednesday.

While there is no indication that Trump’s conviction has helped his chances in November, polls have suggested that any damage to his campaign may be minimal, with the contest remaining in a dead heat five months from Election Day.

A YouGov poll conducted in the days after Trump was convicted suggests that Republican voters may be shifting their values to fit with the new reality of the former president being a felon.

The survey found that although only 17 percent of Republican voters said “someone who has been convicted of a felony should be allowed to become president” in April, the figure more than tripled to 58 percent in June, just after Trump’s conviction.

But the impact of the conviction among voters who are undecided remains unclear, while some surveys suggest that there has been a small but significant drop in support for Trump among independents.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in New York on July 11, two weeks after the first of two scheduled debates with Biden and just days before he is expected to be officially nominated at this year’s Republican National Convention in Wisconsin.