Trump’s Travel Patterns in His Second Term Compared to Biden
The phrase “moving at the speed of Trump” has become a common expression used by the White House to describe the administration’s efforts to implement major changes quickly. However, when it comes to presidential travel, Donald Trump’s pace during the first six months of his second term is quite similar to that of Joe Biden.
At the six-month mark in office, Trump had made 49 trips across 14 states and seven foreign countries. These trips often included weekend golf outings and sporting events. In contrast, Biden made 45 trips to 17 states and three foreign countries during his first six months in 2021, which overlapped with the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Biden frequently traveled to Delaware for weekends, he also focused on political and official trips more than Trump.
Trump’s travel in his second term has not been as extensive as in his first term. In 2017, he made 48 trips to 21 states and eight foreign countries between January and July. The White House claims that Trump is most effective while in the Oval Office, where he works on the phone, signs executive orders, and meets with foreign leaders and U.S. officials.
According to the White House, Trump has met with 25 foreign leaders at the White House, including multiple visits from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. He has also signed 165 executive orders and held six Cabinet meetings—figures that significantly outpace Biden’s.
A White House spokesperson emphasized that Trump’s travel reflects his America First agenda, stating that he is meeting the American people where they are and representing their best interests. The president is expected to continue working around the clock to deliver the best deals for the American people from the Oval Office, throughout the country, and around the world.
Weekend Trips and Sporting Events
When Trump hits the road, it is often to his properties for weekend trips centered around golf. These include locations such as Palm Beach, Florida; Bedminster, New Jersey; and Sterling, Virginia, near Washington’s Dulles International Airport. The president has made 14 trips to Florida, 13 to Virginia, and eight to New Jersey. As summer approached, he favored Bedminster or day trips to Sterling over Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Biden, on the other hand, often visited his home in Wilmington, Delaware, during weekends. He attended Mass nearly every weekend and occasionally went to a golf club. He also traveled to showcase policy achievements, such as visiting Smith Flooring in Chester, Pennsylvania, a business that benefited from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
In addition to golf, Trump’s non-golf domestic travel has often involved sporting events. He attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Daytona 500 in Florida, UFC fights in Miami and Newark, New Jersey, the NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia, and the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Political Rallies and Commencements
Trump has held only three major political rallies since returning to the White House. He marked his first 100 days in office in suburban Detroit, spoke about an agreement between U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel in Pittsburgh, and kicked off the start of America’s 250th birthday celebration in Des Moines, Iowa. He also gave an economy-focused speech at a Las Vegas casino and addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Biden, on the other hand, made more early political trips. He participated in a CNN town hall in Wisconsin, marked the 11th anniversary of the Obama administration’s health care law in Columbus, Ohio, and highlighted his first 100 days with a socially distanced, drive-in rally in Atlanta.
Trump gave more commencement addresses, speaking at the University of Alabama and the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Biden spoke at the Coast Guard commencement in Connecticut during his opening months, when the pandemic limited many such ceremonies.
Overseas Travel
One area where Trump has outpaced Biden is overseas travel. He visited Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral and took a swing through Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar before attending the G7 meeting in Canada and a NATO summit in the Netherlands. Biden did not travel overseas in 2021 until the G7 in June, when he went to the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Visits to Natural Disaster Sites
Trump’s second term started with visits to western North Carolina and Southern California, both affected by natural disasters that occurred under Biden’s presidency. He also visited Texas after recent devastating floods. However, he did not tour parts of Missouri and Kentucky ravaged by tornadoes or areas hit by strong storms that caused deadly flooding from Texas and Oklahoma to Indiana and Pennsylvania.
Biden toured storm damage in Houston in February 2021 but did not visit all natural disaster sites during his first six months. He did visit Florida after a building collapse in Surfside that killed 98 people.
Unfulfilled Promises
Trump pledged to visit Israel and Gaza after Benjamin Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit the White House during his second term. However, his Middle East trip in May did not include those destinations. He also suggested that Elon Musk would check out Fort Knox in Kentucky to verify U.S. gold reserves, but this now seems unlikely given Musk’s departure from the administration and public feud with Trump.
Trump has expressed interest in visiting Africa “at some point” and is less committed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to attend a September summit of Quad nations. He is set to travel to Scotland next week and will visit two areas with his golf properties. He will also make an official visit to England in the fall. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently presented Trump with a letter from King Charles inviting him to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit, which Trump accepted immediately.
