It was past midnight in Florida this week when President-elect Donald J. Trump decided to mock Justin Trudeau on social media, calling the prime minister of America’s neighbor the “governor” of “the Great State of Canada.”
The middle-of-the-night jest was the latest reminder that Mr. Trump, a well-known night owl, seems to rev up after the sun goes down. He has been the president-elect (again) for 37 days, but he has been most active in the evenings, hosting lavish dinners, announcing nominations and firing off texts to his aides.
Of the more than 80 personnel announcements Mr. Trump has made since Election Day, 45 have been announced in social media posts and emails that he has sent after 6 p.m. Many have come after 10 p.m., prompting a wave of social media chatter and television coverage that sometimes continues throughout the night and into the early morning hours.
One of his veteran staff members said Mr. Trump was known to leave voice mail messages in the middle of the night saying: “This is your favorite president.” He sometimes follows up the next day, suggesting the person might want to share the audio with his friends and family.
Steven Cheung, who will be the communications director in Mr. Trump’s White House, said that “important work is being done day and night.” He added that the round-the-clock activity is a sign of how serious Mr. Trump is about getting work done starting on Day 1.
“The only complaints I’ve heard are from reporters who are angry their dinner plans at Le Dip and their cocktail parties are spoiled,” he said, referring to the restaurant Le Diplomate, a frequent gathering spot in Washington for journalists and their sources in government.
Mr. Trump’s transition team says he holds back-to-back meetings during the day in the tearoom or in his office at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. On Thursday, he spoke about dock automation with the leaders of the International Longshoremen’s Association. “I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it,” he said on social media at 5:05 p.m., well within the traditional workday bounds.
But several people close to Mr. Trump — along with aides who have come to expect emails, texts and phone calls to arrive well after bedtime — say he is often just getting started around dinnertime.
That is usually when Mr. Trump walks out to the outdoor dining patio, always met with boisterous applause from people in the room — usually some mix of members, aides and advisers, cabinet picks, business executives, consultants and others eager for a presidential sighting.
On Nov. 29, he had dinner with Mr. Trudeau, who had raced to fly down to Florida after the president-elect threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico.
Seated around a table with Mr. Trump and 10 others, Mr. Trudeau made the most of the evening, according to statements by both men. Mr. Trump later called it a “very productive meeting,” and Mr. Trudeau said that he looked forward to “lots of great conversations” with the president-elect in the future.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s public safety minister, who attended the dinner with Mr. Trudeau, told reporters that Mr. Trump had teased the Canadians around the table by suggesting that perhaps their country should become a U.S. state — the same kind of jab he posted on social media for all to see several days later.
The dinner was an example of the ways in which Mr. Trump mixes business with pleasure at his club, particularly during dinners.
One Canadian official briefed on the dinner with Mr. Trudeau said the president-elect drank Diet Coke throughout the meal (it was repeatedly refilled) and used an iPad to control the music on the patio. (Among Mr. Trump’s musical choices: two renditions of “Hallelujah” by the Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen, as well as a selection from Pavarotti and the musical “Cats.”)
At the end of the evening, Mr. Trump gave Mr. Trudeau a copy of Mar-a-Lago’s magazine, which included details about membership, as well as ads for plastic surgery and other products and services, according to the Canadian official, who was not authorized to speak with the press and asked for anonymity.
When Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, traveled to Mar-a-Lago, it was for dinner just before Thanksgiving.
Last week, Mr. Trump had dinner with Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at his Trump International Golf Club, which is about 15 minutes away from Mar-a-Lago. An aide posted a picture of Mr. Trump and Mrs. Netanyahu at 8:46 p.m., smiling for the camera.
On Sunday, the president-elect is scheduled to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Akie Abe, the widow of the former prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, according to a person briefed on the dinner and a person close to the Japanese prime minister’s office. Mr. Trump was particularly close with the Mr. Abe, who was shot to death in July 2022 while making a campaign speech.
Eventually, the after-dark presidency will move to the White House. But for now, Mr. Trump is enjoying his Palm Beach perch, where the winter weather is always around 70 degrees, and the sun shines more often than it rains. People close to Mr. Trump expect that once he is president again he will travel frequently back to Palm Beach and to his properties in other places around the country.
But once he is back in office, there are likely to be fewer opportunities for dinnertime gatherings like the ones at Mar-a-Lago. And the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where he sometimes held court, has been sold. It is now a Waldorf Astoria property.
Still, there’s no indication that Mr. Trump has any intention of limiting his governing activities to the daytime. People close to him say he will continue to call or text associates at all hours, post missives on social media in the middle of the night and send out policy announcements with no regard to the position of the sun.
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