Donald Trump's 'Triumph' Ripped by Home State Newspaper

Former President Donald Trump's "supposed triumph" in last month's debate against President Joe Biden has been ridiculed by the editorial board of a major newspaper in the former president's home state.

Trump, who has officially resided at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, since 2019, was viewed by many as the victor of the June 27 debate following a performance by the incumbent president that led a number of prominent figures to question his mental fitness and call for him to be replaced as the Democratic nominee.

While Biden has vowed to continue his campaign and participated in a number of campaign events in the days following the debate, the former president has made comparatively few public appearances. However, Trump is scheduled to appear in South Florida on Tuesday for a campaign rally held at his Doral golf resort in Miami.

On Monday, an article from The Miami Herald's editorial board argued that the Doral rally would be "no triumph for Trump" following the former president's "debate lies." The paper asserted that Trump had been "lucky" in the debate and would be expected to do "the bare minimum" because the media's focus had shifted to Biden's performance.

"He's lucky that the focus of attention has been not on how he shamelessly spread misinformation, but on Democrats' panic and attempt to replace President Joe Biden after his disastrous performance raised reasonable questions about his mental acuity," the board wrote.

"When Trump takes the stage at Trump National Doral Miami Tuesday evening, the bar will be set low for him," the board added. "Trump has to do the bare minimum—looking and sounding vigorous will likely be enough as the news cycle turns to 24/7 coverage of how many Democrats are calling on the president to pass the torch to a younger candidate."

In an email to Newsweek on Monday night, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the following of the editorial in The Miami Herald: "Trump Derangement Syndrome is an affliction that requires immediate attention, otherwise it will rot the brain. Sadly, many media members refuse treatment."

The Miami Herald's editorial board went on to detail several false claims made by Trump during the debate, including assertions that Democrats support abortions performed "after birth," that Biden had allowed "millions of people" to cross the U.S.-Mexico border "from prisons, jails and mental institutions" and that Biden called Black people "super predators"—a term that he instead rejected.

The editorial concluded by arguing that Trump would "gloat" over his debate performance while his own alleged "cognitive decline" would be ignored due to the focus on Biden.

"You can bet that Trump will use his speech in Doral to gloat over his supposed triumph at the debate and Biden's apparent cognitive decline while ignoring his own," the board wrote. "While he does that, America will be too busy worrying about Biden's fitness for office. Trump couldn't ask for a bigger distraction."

Speculation has been mounting over the possibility that Trump could use the Doral rally to announce Florida Senator Marco Rubio as his running mate, although Rubio is only one of several names said to be on Trump's shortlist.