UPDATE: Donald Trump responded to the New York Times‘ claim that the president watches up to eight hours of television every day.
“Another false story, this time in the Failing @nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day – Wrong!” Trump wrote early Monday. “Also, I seldom, if ever, watch CNN or MSNBC, both of which I consider Fake News. I never watch Don Lemon, who I once called the ‘dumbest man on television!’ Bad Reporting.”
EARLIER: According to a lengthy The New York Times report about President Donald Trump’s “hour-by-hour battle for self-preservation” as leader of the free world, the former host of The Apprentice spends a minimum of four hours watching television every day … and up to eight hours total, or what amounts to a standard workday for 40-hours per week employees.
The report cites people close to the president familiar with his daily routine.
As you might expect, Trump isn’t binging Stranger Things 2 or catching up on This Is Us, but rather watching cable news, with Fox News’ Fox & Friends being a particular favorite. He also occasionally “hate-watches” CNN “to get worked up,” according to the Times.
Trump reportedly had a 60-inch TV installed in his White House dining room to consume more shows. And like sitcom dads of yore, the president has a rule about nobody else touching the remote control — unless they’re “technical support staff” (the need for which is left unexplained).
Trump has previously stated he doesn’t watch as much TV as people think he does. “I do not watch much television,” he said last month. “I know they like to say — people that don’t know me — they like to say I watch television. People with fake sources — you know, fake reporters, fake sources. But I don’t get to watch much television, primarily because of documents. I’m reading documents a lot.”