Thread: Trump’s in the White House bubble, and he loves it

Trump’s in the White House bubble, and he loves it

The president is more cloistered than his predecessors, relying on Twitter and cable news instead of retail politics.

By Matthew Nussbaum and Josh Dawsey
03/09/17 07:20 PM EST

President Donald Trump is sticking to his comfort zone.

Trump has spent each of the 48 nights of his presidency either at the White House or at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. He has dined out in the nation’s capital just once — and that was a trip to his own Trump International Hotel for well-done steak.

Aside from visits to a Florida elementary school and a Boeing plant — both en route to weekend breaks at Mar-a-Lago — he’s stayed within the presidential bubble even when venturing beyond Washington, visiting military installations and speaking at a large campaign-style rally.

Trump has shown a willingness to cast off the routine elements of his job — the baby-kissing and glad-handing that his predecessors used to stay in touch with voters. Instead, he relies on Twitter as his megaphone — and on cable television to give him a daily sense of what the public is thinking.

Aides say they don't expect Trump to do much retail politicking — he doesn't love shaking hands — but will keep doing large rallies, including one scheduled for next week in Nashville. The rallies were part of his campaign routine that he loved because he was energized by large crowds. On foreign trips, one administration official said, his staff expect him to schedule “just as much time as he needs to be there.”

Trump is expected to make several appearances across the country next week — but he is likely to head back to Washington at night.

His habits in the White House so far comport with what friends in New York say about his pre-political life. He has long been a creature of comfort, eschewing some of New York's glitzy balls and galas to instead stay at home, watch TV and dine in his apartment, while watching sports and calling friends. After winning the presidency, he largely stayed in his apartment or at Mar-a-Lago, venturing out once in New York to the 21 Club for dinner. He is happy to not go outside.

“He's not a guy who likes to be away from his own bed,” said Chrisr Ruddy, a longtime Trump friend and the CEO of Newsmax, who visited Trump recently at the White House. “He doesn't want to tour or travel for the sake of traveling. If he can get in a round of golf in Scotland, he'll do that. But you're not going to see him just spend three days shopping and visiting friends.”

On Tuesday, when public White House tours resumed for the first time since Trump took office, the president surprised a group of schoolchildren by hopping out from behind a screen to greet them. But other than that, he’s spent much of his time with people he already knows. He’s hosted CEOs and other executives at the White House at least 11 times in his 2½- month-old presidency. He’s huddled with the leaders of America’s automotive, pharmaceutical, retail, health insurance, financial and airline giants. Sitting around a large boardroom, while quizzing others round-robin, is a scene he is comfortable with and feels he can control.

Part of Trump’s seeming distance from the real world may simply be the result of comparison to recent history and Trump's top aides. According to Washingtonian, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama went to at least 80 D.C. area restaurants during their time in the White House, a record for the modern era. They also made a habit of visiting local bookstores and haunts like Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Vice President Mike Pence, who has already made a foreign trip and is regularly at the Capitol meeting with lawmakers, has stepped in to fill the void. It was Pence who took up a rake to clear damage at a Jewish cemetery in Missouri, and it is Pence who will be dispatched to Louisville, Kentucky, this weekend to pitch the new health care law. Others frequently dine with guests at the Trump International Hotel or show up for dinners at embassies.

Trump keeps it real by talking to his old New York friends, using a cellphone that he personally answers, and he stays up late watching TV, before getting up early to watch more TV and read the newspapers.

“Because he loves to work, he sleeps only three or four hours a night. It’s most convenient for him to live close to his office which is what he did in New York, what he’s doing at the White House,” said Ronald Kessler, a Trump friend who met him while writing a book on Palm Beach in the late 1980s and regularly attends the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve festivities. “He loves his own territory, he almost never goes to another restaurant aside from his own eating facilities.”

At Mar-a-Lago, he usually sticks to the same routine. He wakes up early, reads newspapers and watches TV and tweets before heading to the links. He then makes calls or takes meetings in the afternoon, before dining among the crowd and greeting guests at night. "You aren't going to see him sitting by the pool," one person who knows him well said.

Part of that, Kessler says, is because of Trump’s years as a celebrity and a walking brand. Unlike Obama, who used his presidential outings to draw attention to innovative chefs or small-business owners, Trump is focused on making himself the center of attention. “At Palm Beach, you will never see him at a restaurant, and part of it is to promote his own brand,” Kessler said.

And he has surprised friends by liking the White House so much and not wanting to return to New York most weekends.

“I said the president was not going to be happy — White House — with all the security, but Melania told me he loved it, he was calling her every night — he loved the job, he was working more hours than ever before,” Ruddy said. “It's amazing to me that it's the same Donald Trump I've always known. He is doing the same things. Now he's talking a lot more about politics and the government instead of his businesses and TV show.”

Last weekend, the vice president spoke at the Gridiron Dinner, and he has frequently gone out to dine in Georgetown, according to people who know him. Trump has stuck to often eating his favorite dish in the White House: meatloaf.

“He doesn’t change,” said Kessler. “He is a creature of habit. … And it works for him.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/0...-bubble-235906

Such a nice heart-warming article about our dear President. Working away, loving every minute of it, loves living in the White House, loves eating the White House Meatloaf, loves evenings watching TV or sports, talking to his friends, waking up early, staying up late, working every minute he's not sleeping, business dinners at home, doesn't want to travel internationally more than he has to, and only then for the purpose and then back home, he really is our Blue-Collar Billionaire President who wants to fix our country.

Such a wonderful person. We're very fortunate and must stand by and with him as he pushes back against all the evil we know and can imagine that is attacking him to attack US and our great country.

Well, that is an interesting read. Thank you for posting that Judy.

Yes, I thought so too. It's so rare to find an article that accurately describes our President Trump, and I think this one did.