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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Rachel Brodsky

Jimmy Kimmel recalls ‘comical’ visit to Mar-a-Lago: ‘Everyone there is 100 years old’

Photograph: Getty Images

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has opened up about his experience visiting Mar-a-Lago.

“You could not possibly exaggerate how comical it is,” Kimmel said on The Ringer’s “The Bill Simmons Podcast”. “Everyone there is 100 years old.”

Describing how he went to former President Donald Trump's South Florida resort six years ago to have dinner with radio host Howard Stern, Kimmel termed the club's attendees that day as “hunched-over people who are eating soft food”. The establishment itself, meanwhile, is apparently covered in Trump photos.

“It was just quiet and a terrible place,” Kimmel said. “And now he lives in this terrible place.” (Trump returned home to his club in Palm Beach following the end of his presidency.)

Read More: Trump trolled by ‘pathetic loser’ banner upon return to Mar-a-Lago

Mar-a-Lago membership, which has an initiation fee of $200,000, is reportedly on the decline, according to historian Laurence Leamer, who wrote the book Mar-a-Lago: Inside the Gates of Power at Donald Trump's Presidential Palace.

Speaking to MSNBC host Alex Witt on Weekends with Alex Witt on Saturday (23 January), Leamer said he had spoken with a number of former members of former President Donald Trump's Florida club who had “silently walked out” after Trump left office.

With the former President now out of office and with the property not hosting any entertainment due to the pandemic, Leamer claims that former members feel Mar-a-Lago is “a sad place”.

"It's not what it was," he continued.

In 2019, Trump transferred his personal residence from Trump Tower in New York to Mar-a-Lago. But he may not be able to live there permanently, per a 1993 agreement with the town of Palm Beach.

Leamer points out that “even here, people don't like him”, referring to Palm Beach residents. "It's just another measure of how his power has declined.”

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