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By Kaitlin Lewis
Night Reporter
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Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday was ripped by the editorial board of The Palm Beach Post, which urged Democrats to not base their vote in November off last week's debate.
The op-ed from the Florida news outlet comes nearly a week after Trump faced President Joe Biden for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election in Atlanta. The event has renewed concerns over Biden's mental and physical health after the president stumbled through several gaffes throughout the night, and some Democrats have since called for the 81-year-old to step down as the party's presidential nominee.
Trump's debate performance was not out of the ordinary for the former president. He repeatedly dodged questions from moderators and instead directed attacks at his political opponents, including Biden. He also made several false or misleading statements on issues such as abortion, the economy and immigration.
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In Wednesday's essay, the Post's board argued that nothing said by either candidate at last week's debate "changes the candidates' records as public servants or their levels of personal character and integrity."
The op-ed went on to describe Trump, who resides in Palm Beach County, as "a convicted felon who has lied and cheated his way through business, elections, marriage and even golf" and bashed the former president for installing a conservative-majority Supreme Court while in office.
"By the way he also tried to overthrow the government," the editorial board wrote. "We know our Mar-a-Lago neighbor well: Donald Trump is bad people."
Trump on May 30 was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The charges were connected to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, who testified that she was paid $130,000 during Trump's 2016 campaign to keep quiet about an extramarital affair the two had years prior. Trump denies having the affair.
The former president has also been criminally charged in Georgia, accused of attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden in the state. He was also indicted in Washington, D.C., over activities surrounding the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Justice Department has also charged Trump with mishandling and withholding classified documents that were seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The Post's editorial board went on to describe Biden as "a good man" who "continues to build upon the towering achievements of a career devoted to democracy and public wellbeing." The op-ed highlighted the president's Inflation Reduction Act and his effort to shift toward alternative sources of energy.
"We believe those calling for Joe Biden's replacement on the Democratic ticket are too caught up in the moment," read the essay. "We look forward to great things from his second term. But his doubters are politically unrealistic in a way that threatens to give Donald Trump a new term, one even more disastrous than his last."
"All efforts now need to be on building voter participation among all who stand to benefit from Biden's work, and not killing off enthusiasm through internecine squabbles that can't possibly lead to a better result than Biden gives the nation every day," the board concluded.
Newsweek on Wednesday sent an email to Trump's campaign for comment on the Post's op-ed.
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