Trump Will Hunker Down In WH For Thanksgiving Amid Refusal To Accept Reality
President Trump will stay hunkered down in the White House for Thanksgiving, instead of his annual pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, as he continues fuming over losing the presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden, according to first lady chief of staff Stephanie Grisham.
Holiday Scheduling Update: The @POTUS & @flotus will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday at the @WhiteHouse this year.
— Stephanie Grisham (@StephGrisham45) November 17, 2020
CNN and the New York Times first reported the development.
Since Election Day two weeks ago, Tuesday marks the 10th time Trump didn’t list any public events on his daily schedule. The sitting president has largely gone AWOL in taking no questions from reporters, having no cameras in Oval Office and retreating to his namesake golf course in Virginia on weekends.
Trump still hasn’t conceded his election loss and continues waging baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud on Twitter. The sitting President has launched baseless legal efforts to delegitimize the results of the election which have fallen almost entirely flat.
Citing one White House official, CNN reported on Tuesday afternoon that word has gone around about Trump seriously weighing canceling his annual trip to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving.
Later Tuesday, CNN reported that two officials said Trump informed them that he pulled the plug on traveling to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving. The Times also reported on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago trip cancelation.
“It feels like bunker mentality,” the official told CNN.
According to CNN, some of Trump’s advisers pushed the sitting president for more official events after the election that would show him going about the job he is in denial about losing. However, the White House did not have any post-election announcements or official engagements scheduled because Trump and his team were focused on re-election.
CNN reported that Trump has made policy and personnel decisions from behind closed doors, which include firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper and preparing the Afghanistan and Iraq drawdown orders. The sitting president reportedly also inquired about options for striking Iran during a meeting last week, but his administration is rushing to restrict efforts on deregulation and immigration ahead of Trump’s term ending.
People familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump has little interest in piling more onto his schedule and that few aides have floated the idea to him due to “his dark mood and preoccupation with his loss.”
According to CNN, Trump has spent his recent mornings at the Whtie House watching television, arriving to the Oval Office later in the afternoon and remaining into the evening. Trump reportedly goes in and out between the office and his adjoining dining room, which has a large television in addition to newspapers and magazines scattered across the table.