An Associated Press analysis shows Donald Trump’s travel pace is about the same as that of his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. By his six-month mark in office on July 20, Trump will have made 49 trips to 14 states and seven foreign countries. That’s not far off from Biden's pace. The Democrat made 45 trips to 17 states and three foreign countries early in his presidency during the pandemic. Trump’s second-term travel is also less prolific than his first, at least in terms of visiting different parts of the United States. That list includes Trump’s visit to the University of Alabama.
That's not far off from Biden, who made 45 trips to 17 states and three foreign countries in his first six months in 2021, which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Democrat made lots of weekend trips home to Delaware, where he went to church and usually did not golf. He also had more political and official trips than did his Republican successor.
Trump’s second-term travel is also less prolific than his first so far, at least in terms of visiting different parts of the United States. In 2017, he made 48 trips to 21 states and eight foreign countries between Jan. 20 and July 20. The White House has said Trump is most effective while in the Oval Office, working the phones, signing executive orders and meeting with foreign leaders and U.S. elected officials.
It says Trump has met with 25 foreign leaders at the White House, including multiple visits by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and signed 165 executive orders while holding six Cabinet meetings — totals that far outpace Biden's. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement that Trump’s “travel reflects his America First agenda -– he is meeting the American people where they are and representing their best interests.”
The president, Rogers said, “will continue working around the clock to deliver the best deals for the American people from the Oval Office, throughout the country, and around the world.”
When Trump hits the road, it's most often to his properties for weekend trips built around golf in Palm Beach, Florida; Bedminster, New Jersey; or Sterling, Virginia, near Washington's Dulles International Airport and close enough to motorcade from the White House. The president has logged 14 Florida trips, 13 to Virginia and eight to New Jersey. After summer arrived, he has favored Bedminster or day trips to Sterling over steamy Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Biden headed to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, many weekends early in his term. He sometimes went to a golf club, but attended Mass nearly every weekend. Biden also traveled often to showcase policy achievements or to promote his initiatives, such as his visit to Smith Flooring in Chester, Pennsylvania, a small business he described as benefiting from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Much of Trump's non-golf domestic travel has been built around sporting events. The president went to the Super Bowl New Orleans and to Florida for the Daytona 500. He attended UFC fights in Miami and Newark, the NCAA Wrestling championships in Philadelphia, and the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
