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 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.

Former President Donald Trump's return to his glitzy Florida 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.

His neighbors 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.