Donald Trump has spent 15 percent of presidency at his own properties
Figure comes even before visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which will take place at magnate's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.As of noon Monday, President Donald Trump will have spent about 15 percent of the time he has been commander in chief at a property that he owns or that bears his name.
Most of that time has been spent at Mar-a-Lago, a property he owns in West Palm Beach, Florida. But Trump also has spent time dining at his hotel in Washington (apparently leaking news about the visit to ensure positive coverage) and, this past weekend, at Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia, where he held a “partial Cabinet meeting” on Saturday.
In our analysis of Trump’s first month in office, we looked at the hour-by-hour breakdown of his time. Including more recent visits to that tally, Trump has been at one of his properties for about 186 of the 1,248 hours he will have been in office.
The majority of these visits occurred on the weekends, sometimes stretching into the workweek one direction or the other. That will continue in April, with Axios reporting that Chinese President Xi Jinping will join Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday and Friday, April 6 and 7. (The odds seem high that Trump will remain at the resort for the two following days, as well.)
While Trump has apparently resigned from his positions with the Trump Organization, his association with Mar-a-Lago and the other Trump properties is quite obvious. The resort’s website still offers a greeting from Trump on its “members” page.
Shortly before Trump took office, the new-member fee for Mar-a-Lago doubled, to $200,000. Trump’s willingness to conduct presidential business at the club has raised eyebrows - as well as security concerns. Analysis from Politico determined that each trip the president makes to the club could cost taxpayers at least $3 million.
Since Trump won the presidency, Internet search interest in Mar-a-Lago has increased. It spiked when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited - during which those security concerns were raised.
The visit from Xi will almost certainly earn the club a renewed spike in attention.
As the joke on social media goes, whoever owns this “Mar-a-Lago Club” must be relishing all the attention the president is lavishing on it. If only we could figure out who stood to benefit from all this publicity.
The Washington Post
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments