Trump abolishes ‘silly season' – and summer holidays are off

Telegraph

5 hours ago

Congress is on holiday, much of Washington DC has emptied out, and journalists should be writing about waterskiing dogs or celebrity sightings to keep the news machine ticking over during 'silly season'.
That kind of summertime ennui is a distant memory now that Donald Trump has returned to power.
A senior administration source told The Telegraph that the 79-year-old president abruptly ditched a planned August break to push forward with Ukraine peace talks.
'Two weeks were blocked out for him to be at Bedminster [the president's New Jersey golf club] but he decided to cancel it,' said the official.
Instead, last week he flew to Alaska to meet Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, on Monday he hosted Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, and seven European leaders at the White House, and in between he has taken over policing of Washington and signed executive orders on everything from 'debanking' to overhauling scientific research.
The result is a continuation of the president's 'flood the zone' strategy to governing, a bump in his poll ratings, and no rest for anyone else in his team.
Some staffers have had to repeatedly postpone their own plans for a holiday, or quietly make do with a snatched day off here or there.
There is no silly season this year, according to David Urban, a former Trump campaign adviser and confidant.
'He's killed it off,' he said. 'There is no downtime in this administration.'
This weekend the president is expected to stay at the White House, at a time when members of Congress and their staffs escape Washington's sticky summer season, and when diplomats head for their holiday homes.
One member of staff described how their own plans for a summer break had been thwarted three times by the president changing his schedule at the last minute to fit in more travel.
'But it's worth it,' they added.
Craig Shirley, the presidential historian, said Mr Trump was in a hurry to push through his agenda as time ticked down on his second and final term.
Past presidents might not be seen in the capital for the whole of August, he added.
'But I think it really depends on what is going on at the time,' he said. 'Trump is dealing with multiple crises right now so it makes more sense to stay close to the White House even with all the modern communications he has – the image of being seen at the White House is very important.'
That's not to say it has all been work and no play for the president.
A five-day working trip to Scotland last month was centred around his two golf courses, but included agreeing a European Union trade deal and a sit-down with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister.
And last weekend he managed to fit in two trips to his golf course in Virginia despite only getting back from Alaska in the early hours of Saturday morning.
'Many staff on Air Force One were sleeping on the way home, not President Trump. He was awake and working the entire flight,' said Karoline Leavitt, his press secretary.
Mr Trump called Mr Zelensky and a string of European leaders as he flew back from the summit. He arrived back at the White House at 3am.
Ms Leavitt added: 'President Trump is the hardest working man in politics, and he literally works around the clock, as evidenced by his being here at the White House in the Oval Office 12 to 15 hours a day, going up to the residence immediately to continue working throughout the night.'
This August stands in contrast to his first summer in the White House, when he took a 17-day 'working vacation' at Bedminster, contrary to even his own advice.
'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' he wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.'
There are signs that his strategy is paying off. A poll published on Monday suggested he had seen a bump in his approval rating after his Alaska summit with Putin.
An InsiderAdvantage poll conducted over the weekend found that Mr Trump has the backing of 54 per cent of respondents, with 44 per cent saying they disapproved of his performance. That 10-point net approval rating is up from two points in July, when the survey was last conducted.
Mr Urban said there was plenty more work to be done. Thoughts were now turning to promoting the 'big, beautiful bill,' Mr Trump's signature domestic policy agenda, ahead of next year's midterm elections, he still had dozens of appointees that needed to be approved by the Senate, and then there was the matter of peace in Ukraine.
'There's no rest for the weary,' he said.