Trump needs safe places for everything from eating to travel: report

President Donald Trump is withdrawing into a bubble as he seeks safe places, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

"He eats almost every meal in the White House or at properties he owns," the newspaper noted. "His presidential travel has been limited largely to red-state campaign rallies with adoring crowds, brief appearances surveying natural disasters, official travel overseas and a handful of forays to factories."

Trump insulating himself from voters could be a political precarious decision as the 2020 presidential campaign ramps up.

"In many ways, he lives in an echo chamber of his own making, an approach to the presidency that will be strenuously tested as Mr. Trump begins his campaign for re-election," The Times explained. "Virtually none of his travel as president has been to areas where he could expand his political base. Instead, he seems to mostly seek a controlled, home-court advantage."

This seems to be part of an effort to further polarize the nation, Republican strategist Matthew Dowd suggested.

“This president seems to be operating on ‘how do I make my smaller supporters more intensified’ as opposed to ‘how do I get more supporters?’” Dowd said. “He’s using the power of the presidency, instead of trying to overcome division, he is trying to harden the division.”

Presidential historian Timothy Naftali, the former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, agreed.

“I think the president more often than not takes a sectarian approach to leadership, pitting one group against another," Naftali said. "His schedule seems to confirm that.”

Trump's actions go against the trend of presidents trying to get outside of their bubble to stay in touch.

“Obama and Bush tried as best they can to break out of the bubble,” Mr. Dowd said. “He sort of goes out of his way to put more cement around the bubble, so nobody can get to him.”

Read the full report.