TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As he walked down the red carpet to begin his New Year’s Eve celebrations Sunday [12-31-17] night, President Trump stopped to predict ‘a tremendous year’ ahead.
It certainly appeared to be getting off to a lavish start at his Mar-a-Lago club. Before the president arrived — flanked by his 11-year-old son, Barron, and his wife, Melania — a string of guests decked out in jewels, fur and sequins had already streamed in, having paid hundreds of dollars each to celebrate with the president and his family…
It was perhaps the fitting culmination of 10 days of vacation firmly rooted in old routines: days at his golf course, nights at Mar-a-Lago, and a smattering of Twitter posts and meetings punctuating the moments in between…
He is certainly not the first president to indulge in multiple days of golf or evade the press pool that trails him in white vans. And he and Melania Trump, the first lady, did have breaks from the routine. They made phone calls to military members stationed overseas, spoke on the phone with children tracking Santa Claus, attended evening Mass on Christmas Eve and visited a local fire station.
But Mr. Trump’s pattern of private phone calls and meetings, golf course mornings and private club evenings appeared far more relaxed than the vacation habits of his immediate predecessor, Barack Obama, who in 2015 spent a day crisscrossing a Hawaiian island to socialize with family and friends, go to the beach with his daughters and visit his grandfather’s grave.”
-Emily Cochrane and Michael S. Schmidt, “For Trump, a Glittering Gala Ends a Winter Vacation Rooted in Routine,” The New York Times online, Dec. 31, 2017