These days, it’s almost as if there are two Donald Trump Presidencies. One is a circus performed daily on Twitter and cable news. The other Presidency, which has to do with policy formulation and implementation, receives less attention, but it is more consequential because it is hurting the welfare of millions of people.
The latest news from Washington is that Trump’s regular workday lasts for just a few hours. According to a report from the political-news Web site Axios, Trump gets to the Oval Office at 11 a.m. every day and leaves by 6 p.m. And, even during these nominal working hours, large periods are allotted for “executive time,” during which he watches television, gabs on the phone, and tweets. On Wednesday, for example, Trump had an intelligence briefing at eleven, and then he had “executive time” until a meeting with the Norwegian Prime Minister, at two. The final item on his schedule was a 4 p.m. video recording.