Politico9 hours of ‘Executive Time’: Donald Trump’s unstructured days define his presidency
- The president’s schedule shows huge swathes of his day unplanned, allowing his whims and momentary interests to drive White House business
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Eliana Johnson and Daniel Lippman on politico.com on October 29, 2018.
US President Donald Trump had about three times as much free time planned for last Tuesday as work time, according to his private schedule.
The president was slated for more than nine hours of “Executive Time”, a euphemism for the unstructured time Trump spends tweeting, phoning friends and watching television.
Official meetings, policy briefings and public appearances – traditionally the daily work of being president – consumed just over three hours of his day.
The president was slated to spend 30 minutes on the phone with CEOs and make brief remarks at a state leadership conference.
He was briefed by senior military leaders in the evening and joined them for dinner. Apart from an 11:30am meeting with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly – his first commitment of the day – the rest of his day consisted of open time, some in blocks as long as 2 hours and 45 minutes.
A review of a week’s worth of the president’s private detailed schedules, from Monday October 22 through Friday October 26, showed that the president enjoyed more free time on Tuesday than on any other day that week, but Tuesday’s agenda was hardly atypical.