Profiting Off the Presidency

One week into his presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump described what he thought would be required of a president, saying, “I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done. I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off.”Fittingly, Trump made these promises at the opening of the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, where he has spent 23 days since taking the Oath of Office. All told, President Trump has spent about one-third of his days as President at his own properties.

These frequent visits raise not just a host of ethical concerns, but also – when considered alongside the unprecedented number of vacancies across the federal government and the lack of a coherent agenda from the White House – questions of the President’s commitment to the work he once acknowledged had to be done. This update from the Democracy Reform Task Force highlights the staggering amount of time the President has spent at his personal properties during his first year in office.