One of Donald Trump’s most frequent attacks on the campaign trail against Hillary Clinton was that she “lacked stamina.” Now less than one year into his presidency, Trump’s workday is shrinking.
Trump generally doesn’t arrive for work until 11am and wraps around 6pm, and he’s taking fewer meetings, Axios reports. This is to allow for what the White House is calling “Executive Time,” which is code for spending time in the residence, watching TV news and tweeting.
By comparison, George W. Bush showed up at the Oval Office at 6:45am. Barack Obama worked out first thing in the morning and got into the office between 9 and 10am.
Axios outlines a few days of Trump’s schedule this week:
On Tuesday, Trump has his first meeting of the day with Chief of Staff John Kelly at 11am. He then has “Executive Time” for an hour followed by an hour lunch in the private dining room. Then it’s another 1 hour 15 minutes of “Executive Time” followed by a 45 minute meeting with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. Then another 15 minutes of “Executive Time” before Trump takes his last meeting of the day — a 3:45pm meeting with the head of Presidential Personnel Johnny DeStefano — before ending his official day at 4:15pm.
On Thursday, the president has an especially light schedule: “Policy Time” at 11am, then “Executive Time” at 12pm, then lunch for an hour, then more “Executive Time” from 1:30pm.
The revelations come as questions mount about Trump’s physical and mental fitness for the presidency. Said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “The time in the morning is a mix of residence time and Oval Office time, but he always has calls with staff, Hill members, Cabinet members and foreign leaders during this time . . . The President is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long.”
Trump is due to have a physical on Friday; the White House has said the results will be made public.
