Donald Trump Not Taking Vacations: Do Americans Really Believe President-Elect Won’t Take Any Vacation Days? [Poll]


Donald Trump has many supporters believing he is not taking vacations once he has control of the White House. The president-elect has made recent comments about taking no salary as Commander in Chief and has also addressed how he will deal with vacation time once he is sworn in. This has led to many people posting on Facebook and Twitter about how president-elect Trump will never take a vacation over the next four years. A report by USA Today quotes him in that regard, but also refutes a number of memes that have been created by supporters.

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The first thing to point out is that Donald Trump has never stated that he is “not taking vacations” once he takes over as President of the United States. The people who believe that line have chosen to interpret several of his comments in that fashion, but it isn’t something that he has actually stated. What the President-elect did say is that he won’t be taking “any long vacations” while he is in the White House. While he never defined what “long vacations” means, it does show that he intends to take some time off during his four-year term.

Another sound bite that has garnered a lot of attention is Donald Trump stating that he won’t be taking a salary as the President of the United States. Typically, the president makes $400,000 in salary, but the president-elect will instead opt to take a yearly payment of $1 instead. A report by Forbes.com explained that Donald Trump can’t refuse to accept the salary, as it is mandated by a statute that he be paid the full amount, but he can choose to either donate it to a charity of his choice or return it to the Treasury. He wouldn’t be the first.

“When John F. Kennedy was President, he donated his salary to charity, a practice he continued from his days serving in Congress. Herbert Hoover, a self-made millionaire, donated his salary to charity, too. And in 2013, Barack Obama, who famously announced that he had just finished paying off his student loans a few years before he took office, agreed to return 5 [percent] of his salary to the Treasury after the government shutdown affected the pay of federal workers.”

[Image by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images]

The reason that Donald Trump possibly not taking any vacations has created such a buzz is due to the negative press that President Barack Obama often received for taking vacations during his eight-year run in the White House. Though many social media jokes have been made about President Obama spending too much time on the golf course, he has actually taken far less vacation time than most of the recent presidents.

A report by the PBS used President George W. Bush as an example, as he was credited with 490 vacation days in Texas during his eight years in office. That doesn’t take into account the vacation days he spent in other areas of the country, which pushed his total to 533 total days. A recent report by Politifact, using CBS News as a source, stated that President Barack Obama has taken vacations that span all or part of 217 days. It also states that President Bill Clinton took 174 days of summer vacations and that President Ronald Regan spent 349 days vacationing in California.

[Image by Matthew Busch/Getty Images]

FOX News also published a report about where President-elect Donald Trump plans to spend time during his four-year term. That may include traveling to one or more of his properties for the weekend. These trips could include stays at his downtown Manhattan penthouse apartment or his home in Florida. Those would be considered vacation days away from the White House, with additional expenses such as flight and staff costs covered by taxpayers.

As of this point, Donald Trump not taking vacation days should be considered a myth, as nobody would expect the President of the United States to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year without taking a little time off to relax and recharge.

[Featured Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]

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