How long is Donald Trump's attention span?
No one ever suggested Donald Trump is a patient, meditative, reflective decision-maker, but more and more his impulsive behavior and unwillingness or incapability to focus is raising concerns about how he would run the White House.
"I think he's definitely got attention deficit disorder. That doesn't mean he isn't really smart — it just means he's not at his best when he's asked to dwell on a topic," Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio told Politico.
Trump has offered conflicting thoughts on his own ability to focus, claiming both "I have an attention span that's as long as it has to be" to Time last year, and outright admitting "my attention span is short" in his 1990 book Surviving at the Top.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This much is clear though: Trump would certainly be a contrast to the current president, "a reader by disposition and a lawyer by training who stays up late plowing through 'an insane amount of paper,'" Politico writes. George W. Bush also "read volumes of material every night." But Trump has said he doesn't like long reports: "Send me, like, three pages," he told Washington Post reporters of his briefing preferences. And on reading in general, he says he "doesn't have much time."
Jack O'Donnell, who served as one of Trump's Atlantic City casino executives, has seen how this works out, at least in the business world. O'Donnell recalled that when he worked for successful casino magnate Steve Wynn, the two would have eight- or nine-hour meetings.
That wasn't how Trump did things. "He would talk for a few minutes and then change the subject," O'Donnell said. "I don't think he has the capacity to listen."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Out of office: microretirement is trending in the workplaceThe explainer Long vacations are the new way to beat burnout
-
Will California tax its billionaires?Talking Points Proposed one-time levy would shore up education, Medicaid
-
Blue Origin launches Mars probes in NASA debutSpeed Read The New Glenn rocket is carrying small twin spacecraft toward Mars as part of NASA’s Escapade mission
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
