‘Homebody’ Donald Trump: GOP Front-Runner Insists On Sleeping In Own Bed

As the long battle between GOP presidential candidates grows more personal and heated as the primary nears, the group of hopefuls, like many before them, find themselves practically living in hotels in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, and making red-eye flights that crisscross the country in last-ditch efforts to garner votes in the hopes that the support gathered will be enough to land them in the White House.

All candidates, that is, but Donald J. Trump, who is, reportedly a “homebody” who has to sleep in his own bed, located in the opulent marble-and-gold furnished Trump Tower apartment located in Manhattan.

After nearly every rally Trump has held, Business Insider reports, the GOP front-runner has hopped into one of his planes or helicopter in order to return to New York — even if he has a second rally planned just an hour or two away the next day.

Trump’s insistence that he must sleep in his own bed every night has caused some election campaign veterans to wonder if it could actually cost him. Voters in places like Iowa and New Hampshire often expect a lot of attention because they have historically felt as though they hold a special role in presidential primaries because their state contests are first in the nation, and Trump may not be living up to that.

Trump currently holds a lead in New Hampshire, but polls show he has slid into second place in Iowa, coming in behind Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. And Cruz, holding the lead in Iowa ahead of Trump, has done what any other presidential candidate has historically done: He has basically been living in Iowa as the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus looms near.

The contrast between the Cruz campaign and the Trump campaign is stark. In November and December, Trump held a reported six rallies in that state, made a visit to a production plant, and held one town hall.

Trump flew home in order to sleep in his own bed after every event.

Cruz, however, has made his way all over the state, holding around a dozen town halls and as many as 25 “meet-and-greet” sessions with local Iowa residents, and he goes to bed in an Iowa hotel between stops every night.

And while Cruz will continue to crisscross the state, via bus, stopping at coffee shops and sleeping in Iowa hotels at night, Trump’s schedule reflects his need to jet out of town as quickly as he can so that he can sleep in his own bed in his beloved Trump Tower at night.

In fact, Trump has flown home after every event held this week. After addressing a crowd in Lowell, Massachusetts, and had a rally just a few hours north the next day in New Hampshire, Trump flew home to New York between the two stops.

In an interview, Trump excused his need to fly home as business, saying he needed time each morning in his Manhattan office to run his companies, which include a string of high-end hotels and resorts.

“It works very well for me,” Trump said.

Because of his private aircraft fleet, he added, he could get to and from campaign stops easily.

“For the smaller airports, the [Cessna] Citation X, and for the larger airports, the Boeing 757.”

But Trump’s friend and supporter has a much different explanation. Roger Stone, Trump’s former adviser and the founder of a pro-Trump super PAC, says that Trump is a homebody.

“Trump is a man who likes to be on the couch with a good cheeseburger and likes to watch TV — he’s a homebody. He likes being in his own bed, even if it means coming into Teterboro or LaGuardia after midnight.”

While Trump wakes in his lavish Manhattan apartment, with breathtaking views of the city, his opponents are waking up in hard beds in bland hotels across the nation.

But Trump is not worried about whether or not voters feel as if they are getting the personal attention. He sees it, instead, as more of a numbers games, and with his rallies, which are often televised, attracting between 3,000 to 20,000 people, he is ahead of the game.

“I have more people at one event than most candidates see in a month,” Trump said.

So despite some senior campaign officials wondering if Donald Trump’s need to go home every night may impact Trump’s electability, it seems as though Donald Trump himself is losing very little sleep.

[Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images]