President Donald Trump's impromptu half-hour tour of the White House South Lawn surprised a CNN anchor with his use of time.
During a Wednesday segment on CNN, Kasie Hunt said Trump spent 32 minutes leading reporters around the White House while talking about stones, flagpoles, and his planned ballroom.
"32 minutes in a presidential day is an enormously long amount of time," Hunt said. "It doesn't feel like it. You can easily waste 32 minutes on Instagram like the rest of us, but he's running the country."
According to Kate Bedingfield, a former White House communications director for Joe Biden, the president's day "is scheduled within minute increments, and there are decisions made that give him the time to do this rather than other things."
Trump's schedule initially said he was participating in a policy meeting during the time slot he used for his impromptu tour, Hunt said.
"I would just be absolutely ripping my hair out," Bedingfield said.
Axios reporter Alex Thompson said, "Democrats running in competitive seats are jumping for joy" because of Trump's time-wasting.
Politico reporter Marc Caputo said that Trump's misuse of his time is part of the reason "why his approval ratings have been slipping, even among Republicans." However, Trump focuses on his projects because "he loves it. He is the builder in chief."
Mark Sanford, the Republican former governor of South Carolina, suggested Trump is trying to achieve "immortality" with his pet projects.
"It's frightening in that none of us are wild about dying, but I think he's preoccupied with it. It's a triumphant arch, whether it's renaming the peace center, whether it's the ballroom, you just go down the list," Sanford said. "It ought to be your actions in a governance role that stand out."
However, Caputo said that Trump has "stamped his legacy on the GOP and altered its DNA."