Don't Get Around Much Anymore

He is a big boy from the side. But what's w/ those eyebrows? (Getty.)

Where Prez Lumpy at? Hiding like a spoiled little boy who doesn't like sleep-overs because if it's not his house,
he's not in control.

Trump has spent each of the 48 nights of his presidency either at the White House or at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. He has dined out in the nation’s capital just once — and that was a trip to his own Trump International Hotel for well-done steak.

Aside from visits to a Florida elementary school and a Boeing plant — both en route to weekend breaks at Mar-a-Lago — he’s stayed within the presidential bubble even when venturing beyond Washington, visiting military installations and speaking at a large campaign-style rally.

[...]

On foreign trips, one administration official said, his staff expects him to schedule “just as much time as he needs to be there.”

Trump is expected to make several appearances across the country next week — but he is likely to head back to Washington at night.

His habits in the White House so far comport with what friends in New York say about his pre-political life. He has long been a creature of comfort, eschewing some of New York's glitzy balls and galas to instead stay at home, watch TV and dine in his apartment, while watching sports and calling friends. After winning the presidency, he largely stayed in his apartment or at Mar-a-Lago, venturing out once in New York to the 21 Club for dinner. He is happy to not go outside.

“He's not a guy who likes to be away from his own bed,” said Chris Ruddy, a longtime Trump friend and the CEO of Newsmax, who visited Trump recently at the White House. “He doesn't want to tour or travel for the sake of traveling. If he can get in a round of golf in Scotland, he'll do that. But you're not going to see him just spend three days shopping and visiting friends.”

That's because he has no friends. Nonetheless, he is most assuredly KEEPING IT REAL!!*

Trump keeps it real by talking to his old New York friends, using a cellphone that he personally answers, and he stays up late watching TV, before getting up early to watch more TV and read the newspapers.

“Because he loves to work, he sleeps only three or four hours a night. It’s most convenient for him to live close to his office which is what he did in New York, what he’s doing at the White House,” said Ronald Kessler, a Trump friend who met him while writing a book on Palm Beach in the late 1980s and regularly attends the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve festivities. “He loves his own territory, he almost never goes to another restaurant aside from his own eating facilities.”

At Mar-a-Lago, he usually sticks to the same routine. He wakes up early, reads newspapers and watches TV and tweets before heading to the links. He then makes calls or takes meetings in the afternoon, before dining among the crowd and greeting guests at night. "You aren't going to see him sitting by the pool," one person who knows him well said.

Part of that, Kessler says, is because of Trump’s years as a celebrity and a walking brand. Unlike Obama, who used his presidential outings to draw attention to innovative chefs or small-business owners, Trump is focused on making himself the center of attention. “At Palm Beach, you will never see him at a restaurant, and part of it is to promote his own brand,” Kessler said.

And he has surprised friends by liking the White House so much and not wanting to return to New York most weekends.

“I said the president was not going to be happy — White House — with all the security, but Melania told me he loved it, he was calling her every night — he loved the job, he was working more hours than ever before,” Ruddy said. “It's amazing to me that it's the same Donald Trump I've always known. He is doing the same things. Now he's talking a lot more about politics and the government instead of his businesses and TV show.”

Last weekend, the vice president spoke at the Gridiron Dinner, and he has frequently gone out to dine in Georgetown, according to people who know him. Trump has stuck to often eating his favorite dish in the White House: meatloaf.

“He doesn’t change,” said Kessler. “He is a creature of habit. … And it works for him.”

Works great for him, really. We've seen the polls.

10¢ Psychology, Third-Hand via Hearsay: "He is happy to not go outside." Agoraphobia? We've already been led to understand The Lump is a bit of a germophobe. “He loves his own territory, he almost never goes to another restaurant aside from his own eating facilities.” That sort of territoriality may lead directly to hiring people to urinate on hotel mattresses.

The Commander-in-Chief as Atlantic City casino greeter dining among the crowd & greeting guests, Joe Louis stylee,

goes beyond psychological considerations.

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*May hack typists MATTHEW NUSSBAUM and JOSH DAWSEY never work in this town again or something.