Conservative political commentator Bill O’Reilly recommended that his old friend President Donald Trump “take the next month off” and “relax a little bit,” perhaps with golfing.
After discussing several of Trump’s current woes, including the recent pushback against lethal Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and disputes with broadcast networks not airing Trump’s recent speech, O’Reilly offered the president a piece of advice on his show “No Spin News.”
“I’ve noticed that he’s hunching over a little bit, and that’s normal. You get older, every malady in the world is going to visit you,” O’Reilly said Tuesday, of the 80-year-old president who he described as his friend for decades.
“So my advice to Donald Trump is to take the next month off, if you can, get into an environment where you like – golf. And relax a little bit,” O’Reilly added.
Though the war in Iran is ongoing, O’Reilly, 76, suggested Trump could continue to prioritize negotiations by using his phone or the people on his team.
“You need a breather,” the former Fox News host said.
Presidents can, and have, taken vacations while in office, but they cannot be entirely unplugged from their job.
Trump is known to take weekend trips to his golf clubs, often in Florida or New Jersey, which can function as small getaways. An online tracker that records each time the president spends a day golfing indicates the president has spent 116 days of his 549 days in office golfing.
Though some of those golf outings are work-related.
During his first term, Trump was adamant that his time spent away from the White House was a “working vacation,” even while spending more than two weeks at his golf club located in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The president’s team often boasts about how often Trump is working, consistently claiming the president does not sleep very much and spends a lot of time making calls.
But the anecdotes offer little solace to critics who point out the president’s voice is hoarse during speeches, appears to fall asleep during meetings or press conferences, has bruised hands from consistent aspirin use and stumbles over words.
Though Trump shows signs of aging, he often brushes off concerns about his mental and physical acuity and states he is in great shape and feels younger than he is.
Tucker Carlson, a prominent conservative podcaster and former ally to Trump, told the New York Times in June that Trump is “really uncomfortable” with aging.
The White House has consistently defended Trump, comparing his “sharpness, unmatched energy and historic accessibility” with his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. They’ve reiterated that Trump is in good health.
But O’Reilly, who said he’s known Trump for 35 years, seems to think his friend could use a break.
“We wish the best for not only President Trump but all the presidents, even Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter,” O’Reilly said Tuesday.
