With the government shutdown dragging into its second month and growing more painful by the day, President Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. This isn't an isolated trip for the president. He has spent nearly two full weeks outside of Washington since the shutdown began.
There are missed paychecks for federal workers, travel disruptions and SNAP food assistance is at risk for millions of Americans. The White House and Republicans in Congress blame Democrats in the Senate for refusing to support a short-term funding bill that would re-open the government.
"They've lost their minds," Trump said of Democrats from Air Force One on his way to Florida. "All they have to do is say the government is open, and that's the end of it."
Trump spent less than 24 hours in Washington, D.C. this week. Most of the week, he was in Asia, on a three country trip that started in Malaysia. He was greeted there by a brass band and brightly clothed dancers. Trump got in on it too, doing his signature Trump dance, swaying with clenched fists.
This lengthy foreign trip, Trump's second time overseas during this shutdown, marked a significant break with how past presidents, including Trump himself, have approached government shutdowns. They have typically avoided the bad optics of skipping town during a crisis.
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In 1995, President Clinton canceled a planned trip to Japan during the government shutdown so he could stay at the White House for talks with Republicans who controlled both the House and Senate.
"We spent a number of days in the Oval Office basically negotiating … trying to see if we could find a way to resolve it," said Leon Panetta, who was Clinton's chief of staff at the time. "Because the last thing we wanted to do was to have the government shut down. That, unfortunately, is no longer the case."
During a lengthy shutdown in 2013, then-President Obama canceled a four-nation Asia trip. And in 2019, President Trump had a trip planned to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"If the shutdown continues, I won't go," Trump said.
The shutdown continued. And he didn't go. Back then, though, Trump was talking about negotiating. He was trying to get border wall funding added to a government funding bill.
"Look, this is really something that should be bipartisan," Trump said as that shutdown dragged on. "And we'll see if it is. I hope it is."
2019 versus 2025
That shutdown lasted 35 days, the longest on record. An NPR analysis finds that during that period, Trump only left Washington for six days. He traveled to:
- Iraq to greet the troops around Christmas
- Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the dignified transfer of Americans killed in an attack in Syria
- Camp David in Maryland for a day
- The U.S.-Mexico border to make the case for border wall funding
- New Orleans to speak to the American Farm Bureau
There were no visits to Mar-a-Lago resort.
This time is quite different. Since the start of the shutdown on October 1, Trump has seemingly made no adjustments to his travel plans and normal routines. His travels have included:
- Two trips to Florida
- Golfed twice at his course near Washington, D.C.
- Israel and Egypt to mark the signing of the Gaza ceasefire agreement
- Stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea during a six day trip
Not counting his golf outings in Virginia, Trump spent all or part of 14 days outside of Washington during the first 31 days of the shutdown.
Republicans say there is nothing to negotiate until the government reopens
Just before Trump returned to the White House from Asia, Vice President JD Vance held a press conference to reassert the administration's position.
"We are not going to give in on policy demands under the threat of hostage taking," he said. There would be no negotiations until Democrats vote to reopen the government.
"We need five more reasonable Democrats to put the American people first and reopen the government. That's all that we're asking," Vance said.
And it isn't just Trump. The GOP-controlled House of Representatives was away the entire month of October. The Senate has voted 13 times on the same funding bill, failing each time because of a lack of support from Democrats. Senators went home for the weekend on Thursday, with many of them encountering flight delays related to the shutdown.
Democrats, who in the past have supported bills like the temporary funding measure Trump and Republicans are insisting on, say they want to negotiate. But, so far Republicans are sticking with their position that there is nothing to negotiate until the government is open.
"Trump can behave however he wants in this situation," said Doug Heye, who was deputy chief of staff to a top house Republican during the 2013 government shutdown. "Whether he's going to events in foreign countries or just sort of living life, none of that interferes with what the core argument is, which is Republicans saying, 'we've done our job, Democrats step up and do yours.' To do anything different would actually cut against their own messaging."
Also, he said, Trump clearly isn't all that concerned with political risk from looking like he isn't engaged in ending the shutdown. Even if Trump keeps teasing a 2028 run for an unconstitutional third term, the president is governing like he has nothing to lose, said Heye.
"He is YOLO [you only live once] and he is going to do what he wants, wherever he wants and he is going to push the boundaries as far as he can, because whatever he talks about, he's not going to be on the ballot again," said Heye.
But Panetta, who served in congress and multiple Democratic administrations, sees it differently. He says what's happening now is an abdication of a basic responsibility to govern.
"We've elected these people and they're not there. They've left Washington. They're going on trips," said Panetta. "They're basically walking away from the very responsibility that they should be exercising as elected officials. I mean, that's what's depressing about all of this."
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly defended the president's travel as good for the country.
"While Democrats flail, President Trump won't stop delivering historic wins for our country while simultaneously finding creative ways to pay our troops and reduce the suffering as a result of Democrats' far-left priorities," Kelly said of Trump's Asia travels.
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