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National

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Data: Company filings; Chart: Axios Visuals

Facebook makes the majority of its revenue off of users in the U.S. and Canada, but its user growth in those countries has slowed dramatically. 

By the numbers: A Facebook user in the U.S. is 3 times more valuable than a Facebook user in Europe, 10 times more valuable than a Facebook user in the Asia-Pacific region, and 15 times more valuable than a user in the rest of the world. The U.S. is by far the world's most lucrative ad market, worth over $200 billion, per estimates from Zenith, a global media agency. China, where Facebook is blocked, is the second biggest, at $87 billion. Japan is a distant third at $43 billion. 

Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada are the most valuable

But growth in North America has slowed dramatically.

Business

Facebook

Technology

Big Tech

Social Media

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

The Pentagon announced Sunday that it's sending 3,750 additional troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to support efforts to improve security at ports of entry and deploy mobile surveillance units, AP reports. 

Details: This puts the total number of active-duty troops already stationed on the border to 4,350. CNN, citing defense officials, reported last week that the administration would send more than 3,000 troops. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said the agency is tracking three migrant caravans currently in route to the U.S., one of which it claims has more than 12,000 people. 

Pentagon says it'll deploy 3,750 more troops to border

The administration says it's tracking three migrant caravans en route to the U.S.

U.S. Army troops deployed at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

U.S. Army troops deployed at the U.S.-Mexico border. Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images

Politics

Immigration

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Kevin Warsh had prepared deeply for his interview with President Trump. It was the fall of 2017, and Trump had narrowed his search for the next chairman of the Federal Reserve down to four candidates. Warsh was one of them.

What happened: The former Federal Reserve governor arrived at the White House with a set of sharp points to make to Trump about monetary policy, according to a friend of his. But that's not quite how the conversation went. "You're a really handsome guy, aren't you?" Trump said, per the friend. "How old are you?"

"Well, you look good for 47," Trump told Warsh. (Warsh did not respond to requests for comment.)

This was not a one-off. Trump often tells powerful men how handsome they are. It's one of his favorite compliments. At one global gathering, he told the husband of one female official that he was so handsome he was "glad I don't have to compete with you," according to a source who witnessed the exchange.

Sen. David Perdue has gotten the same treatment, per a source with direct knowledge. The source said the Georgia Republican told him that Trump said: “You're a really good looking man, you look the part. Those other guys [senators] don't know to dress." The president added, "Those bozos — it must be embarrassing to stand next to them on TV."

The source said Perdue found it hilarious.

At a trade meeting with members of Congress at the White House the week before last, Trump lifted up a board to show the room some charts. In doing so, he covered Rep. Robert Aderholt's face. He then joked to the congressman, "I don't want to cover you up. You're such a good-looking guy."

When Trump saw Ric Grenell, his ambassador to Germany, on TV once, he remarked "Oh, there's my beautiful Grenell,"  a source who has discussed Grenell with Trump previously told Axios. "'There he is again. Great looking guy.' He can't say two sentences about Grenell without saying how great of a looking guy he is."

During a Montana MAGA rally in October, Trump launched into a diatribe about the failed nomination of Ronny Jackson to head Veterans Affairs. Praising his former White House physician, he told the crowd what "a handsome, wonderful father" Jackson was.

At the White House celebration for the Clemson Tigers' National Championship win, Trump told the room: "Wow! Wow, what a group. Look at that quarterback. Oh, I want to be the agent of that tall, handsome quarterback. Six-foot-seven."

At a fundraising event last March, Trump bragged about making up information in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — 'Donald, we have no trade deficit.'"

During an October midterm campaign rally in Florida, Trump introduced Rep. Matt Gaetz as a "great, great talent. Young, handsome, going places, you talk about defending — he’s fantastic, Matt Gaetz!"

The president also has a high view of his own looks.

On the campaign trail in April 2016, Trump addressed the crowd: "Do I look like a president? How handsome am I, right? How handsome?"

The confidence predates his political endeavors.

Go deeper: Insider leaks Trump's "Executive Time"-filled private schedules

Trump's favorite compliment

"You're a really handsome guy, aren't you? How old are you?"

illustration of trump's face with little red hearts around it

Inside the White House

Donald Trump

President Trump’s time management — or lack thereof — is without recent historical precedent. To put our new reporting on his schedules in context, we spoke with former top aides to presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The big picture: The difference between Trump and his recent predecessors is eye-popping.

Trump has the least in common with George W. Bush.

Bush's calendar was tightly scheduled and booked out months ahead.

Bush would wake around 5:15 a.m.; have coffee with his wife, Laura; read the newspapers; and get to the Oval Office by 6:45 a.m., per a former top aide who spoke anonymously to avoid offending Trump.

Bush 43 was assiduously punctual. His schedulers broke his days into 10-minute increments, with the first meeting around 8:15 a.m., according to the former aide.

A 20-minute meeting would run over two increments; meetings started early and finished on time. If Bush wanted to continue a conversation with an outsider, his staff would schedule a follow-up meeting.

He sometimes watched sports in the residence, but rarely watched TV in the West Wing.

After Bush finished his workday, around 5:30 or 6 p.m., he'd do a workout on his stationary bike, finish dinner by 7:30 p.m., read his briefing materials in the Treaty Room, and be in bed reading a book by about 9 p.m., according to the former aide.

Barack Obama was similarly disciplined. But unlike Bush, he would sometimes stay up until 2 a.m. reading.

His daily private schedule would typically have 6 meetings, as well as intelligence and economic briefings, according to Alyssa Mastromonaco, his deputy chief of staff for operations.

Obama would usually get to the Oval Office around 9 a.m. and leave around 6 or 6:30 p.m. for dinner with the first lady and his daughters. He would have evening events around 3 nights a week and would travel domestically about 3 times a month, Mastromonaco said.

"There were unscheduled blocks of time, but they were a rare occurrence, and usually leading into bigger moments — foreign trips, State of the Union, etc.," she emailed.

Trump's approach to scheduling most resembles Bill Clinton's early days, according to presidential historian Chris Whipple.

Clinton was undisciplined, addicted to rope lines and chronically late — so much so that his deputy chief of staff Erskine Bowles conducted a "time and motion" study of the president to figure out where all the time went.

As Clinton's presidency matured, his days in the Oval Office typically began with a 9 a.m. meeting with his chief of staff followed by his intelligence briefing, according to aides from the Clinton White House.

Once in the Oval, Clinton typically spent the day there. Staff built time into his schedule for him to read policy briefings, meet with staff and make phone calls. He worked well into the evening, often with events, the aides said.

Mack McLarty, Clinton's first chief of staff, told us that although Clinton often deviated from his schedule, he started the day with a structure — usually with every hour full, with 1 to 3 p.m. to catch up on mail and calls.

Trump's leaked "Executive Time"-filled private schedules

Read Trump's leaked private schedules in their entirety

How Trump's schedule compares to past presidents

We spoke with former top aides to presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Trump’s fancy-free scheduling approach is no mistake. In "The Art of the Deal," he explained that he thought too much planning curbed his creativity and impeded his thinking. That philosophy is alive and well in the White House, according to more than half a dozen current and former officials.

Between the lines: Trump believes to his core, one former senior White House official told Axios, that he's better off not preparing for some meetings. He thinks preparation hinders his ability to read the room and act with spontaneity, this former aide said.

"I play it very loose," Trump wrote in 'The Art of the Deal."

"I don't carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open. You can't be imaginative or entrepreneurial if you've got too much structure. I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops."

One of the key challenges for his staff: He doesn't like long or complex documents.

He'll skim newspaper articles, news summaries and bullet points, but hates anything longer. So his evening briefings look quite different from his predecessors'.

"Trump does review briefing materials, at least if you make it a point to have him do so," said a former senior White House official who has direct knowledge of Trump's reading habits. "But only if you talk and guide him through it as he's reading."

Trump receives national security materials and news summaries every evening. But the package is more visual than those of his predecessors, with screenshots from the Drudge Report homepage, pictures of his own tweets and snapshots of cable news chyrons from throughout the day, according to people who've seen Trump's nightly briefing packages.

Why Trump swears off planning

He thinks preparation hinders his ability to read the room.

A White House source has leaked nearly every day of President Trump's private schedule for the past three months.

Why it matters: This unusually voluminous leak gives us unprecedented visibility into how this president spends his days. The schedules, which cover nearly every working day since the midterms, show that Trump has spent around 60% of his scheduled time over the past 3 months in unstructured "Executive Time."

We've published every page of the leaked schedules in a piece that accompanies this item. To protect our source, we retyped the schedules in the same format that West Wing staff receives them.

What the schedules show: Trump, an early riser, usually spends the first 5 hours of the day in Executive Time. Each day's schedule places Trump in "Location: Oval Office" from 8 to 11 a.m.

But Trump, who often wakes before 6 a.m., is never in the Oval during those hours, according to six sources with direct knowledge.

Instead, he spends his mornings in the residence, watching TV, reading the papers, and responding to what he sees and reads by phoning aides, members of Congress, friends, administration officials and informal advisers.

Data: Based on White House schedules obtained by Axios. Get the data; Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

Trump's first meeting of the day — usually around 11 or 11:30 a.m. — is often an intelligence briefing or a 30-minute meeting with the chief of staff.

Since Nov. 7, the day after the midterm elections, Trump has spent around 297 hours in Executive Time, according to the 51 private schedules we've obtained.

For those same schedules, Trump has had about 77 hours scheduled for meetings that include policy planning, legislative strategy and video recordings.

Some days, Executive Time totally predominates. For instance, he had 1 hour of scheduled meetings on Jan. 18 (with acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin) and 7 hours of Executive Time.

The day after the midterms, Trump's schedule had 30 minutes for a chief of staff meeting and more than 7 hours for Executive Time.

Former chief of staff John Kelly introduced the concept of Executive Time because the president hated being locked into a regular schedule.

"He's always calling people, talking to people," a senior White House official told us. "He's always up to something; it's just not what you would consider typical structure."

Data: Based on White House schedules obtained by Axios. Get the data; Note: Only events between 8am and 5pm are shown. Chart: Lazaro Gamio/Axios

Between the lines: The private schedules we published below do not list all Trump's meetings over the past three months.

That's because many of his meetings are spur of the moment, according to senior White House officials with direct knowledge of his daily habits.

It's also because a more detailed schedule — kept within a very small, tight circle — typically has 1 or 2 extra meetings per day that aren't listed on private schedules sent to staff.

The president sometimes has meetings during Executive Time that he doesn't want most West Wing staff to know about for fear of leaks. And his mornings sometimes include calls with heads of state, political meetings and meetings with counsel in the residence, which aren't captured on these schedules.

For example, the private schedule we obtained said Trump had a "media engagement" at 4:30 p.m. this past Wednesday. The more detailed schedule revealed it was an interview with the right-wing Daily Caller, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Wednesday's more detailed schedule also listed Trump's meeting with former presidential candidate and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, whom he is  considering for a Federal Reserve governorship, per Bloomberg. (The private schedule obscured that meeting with Executive Time.)

The longer view: Chris Whipple, a student of presidential schedules who wrote the book 'The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency," told us that "there's almost no [historical] parallel" for how this president spends his days.

"The most important asset in any presidency is the president's time," Whipple said. "And Trump is a guy who gives new meaning to the notion of an unstructured presidency."

Responding to Axios' reporting, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders emailed this statement: "President Trump has a different leadership style than his predecessors and the results speak for themselves."

"While he spends much of his average day in scheduled meetings, events, and calls, there is time to allow for a more creative environment that has helped make him the most productive President in modern history."

"President Trump has ignited a booming economy with lower taxes and higher wages, established the USA as the #1 producer of oil and gas in the world, remade our judiciary, rebuilt our military, and renegotiated better trade deals. It’s indisputable that our country has never been stronger than it is today under the leadership of President Trump."

Go deeper: Read Trump's private schedules for the last three months

Scoop: Insider leaks Trump's "Executive Time"-filled private schedules

It's unprecedented visibility into how the president spends his days.

A White House source has leaked President Trump's private schedules for nearly every working day since the midterms, showing that Trump has spent around 60% of the last three months in "Executive Time."

Details: We've published every page of the leaked schedules below. To protect our source, we retyped the schedules in the same format that staff receive them.

Insider leaks Trump's "Executive Time"-filled private schedules

Read Trump's "Executive Time"-filled leaked private schedules

They include nearly every working day since the midterms.

Axios

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Scoop: Insider leaks Trump's "Executive Time"-filled private schedules

Read Trump's "Executive Time"-filled leaked private schedules

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