President Donald Trump has all but abandoned the political rallies that defined his 2016 campaign and first presidency according to a new analysis in The Atlantic Monday, opting instead for his golf clubs, sporting events and international trips that have left some of his allies worried he’s lost touch with voters.
“People voted for him to lower prices, to bring manufacturing back, to stand up to those taking advantage of them,” said someone described as a “close Trump ally,” speaking with The Atlantic's Jonathan Lemire on the condition of anonymity. “They didn’t vote for him to build a damn gilded ballroom. He’s not hearing them.”
Lemire compared Trump’s travel schedule this fall with his outings from the fall of his first year in office during his first term in 2017, and came away "surprised by the drop-off.”
In 2017, Trump traveled domestically more than a dozen times between September and November, The Atlantic's analysis found — once to rally support for Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama, and again to speak with energy workers in North Dakota.
But in the same time period this year, Trump had left the Washington, D.C. metro area “only five times,” with destinations such as his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, another to venture to his golf club in New Jersey, and three times to attend sporting events with wealthy friends.
Trump has also increased his international travel when compared with his previous first year of his term, trips that some of his most die-hard supporters had even urged him to tone down, including far-right influencer Laura Loomer, former White House deputy chief of staff Steve Bannon, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has since announced her resignation from Congress amid a public spat with the president.
“Trump’s lack of travel across the United States, some allies fear, has knocked his political antenna askew,” Lemire wrote.