How many hours a day does President Donald Trump work?

Answer 1

You won't find a truthful answer from anyone on this topic, or really any question about Trump. I don't claim to be objective, but I am a political independent who decided not to vote for Hillary or Trump. I've always voted Republican or third party, but I'll try to answer your question fairly.

President Trump wakes up very early. This is why many of his tweets begin at 4am or so.

However, he reportedly doesn't like to start work until 11am or so. Also, his schedule has many blocks of "Executive Time" (or time to himself) throughout. Even if these reports turn out to be misleading, it's undeniable that Trump spends more time recreating than any prior POTUS. He spends more time away from the White House, and far more time golfing.

He can get up so early since he heads to bed around 6:30pm, reportedly. This has the ring of truth, given his advanced age and his early morning tweeting.

Many have claimed his attention span is very limited. He was videotaped getting up suddenly and walking away from Benjamin Netanyahu, and needing to be ushered back. Reports suggest this is not a one-off occurrence, but common with foreign leaders. Intelligence analysts with the CIA and NSA have had to simplify reports for him. He also reacts angrily to bad news, and so they've supposedly begun to sugar-coat things. And he won't read anything. He believes what he sees on Fox News, rather than understanding and trusting the information that the Intelligence Community delivers to him. Rather than get a Daily Briefing, he limits how often they can deliver information.

These claims likely have merit, judging by an objective analysis of his speech patterns. His vocabulary and sentences are very simple. His vocabulary grades lower than even Pres. Truman's, whose word choices were previously the most limited of all the Presidents since 1900. President Trump's sentences--when he speaks off the cuff--grade out as on 1st grade to 6th grade level. (This analysis was of random samples of his speech.) His tweets grade higher, but that's normal; we speak more simply than we write. However, with Trump's tweets, some grade out as a little higher than his speech (which is normal), while others grade out as MUCH higher (11th grade, which is odd). This might be the result of aides or lawyers doing some of his tweeting, or that they edit some of his tweets before he sends them out. It could also be indicative of severe anxiety when speaking (unlikely), or some other deficit that is overcome when he is writing by himself, versus speaking in public. Or he may simply be embarrassed by his simplistic speech, and overcompensating. This would explain why he sometimes tweets with higher vocabulary, but used incorrectly (e.g., his recent misuse of "misnomer").

Someone so old, with such a short attention span and basic vocabulary would be hard-pressed to put in lengthy days in such a difficult job as President of the United States.

Although there is no way for White House outsiders--such as myself--to give a true answer to your question, it's safe to say that Pres. Trump is "on the job" for fewer hours than former Pres. George W. Bush, who had previously set a low bar for hours at work for a POTUS. President Trump clearly felt former Pres. Obama was golfing and relaxing too much, and sincerely intended to do better, but instead has gone in the opposite direction. Compared to Bush 43 and Trump, Obama was a workaholic, and Trump has been the laziest POTUS in recent memory.