Man's gotta make a living

While many past presidents have held rallies on behalf of congressional candidates before midterm elections, the focus of those events generally has been the candidates, not the president. The campaign rallies President Trump attends as president are instead Trump campaign rallies, with the candidate generally given a few minutes to make some comments and Trump spending a little time praising them and bashing their opponents.

Trump's rally Thursday night in Montana checked those and all of the other expected boxes: inflammatory comments, questionable assertions, enthusiastic fans. Trump has held two dozen campaign-style rallies as president in 16 states, all but two of which voted for him in 2016. Over the past month, he's held three such rallies; extend that window back to the beginning of August and the number climbs to five.

The president also spent much of August at his private golf club in New Jersey. He spent a lot of July there, too. That club, Bedminster, is to the summer what Mar-a-Lago is to the winter: Trump's refuge away from the confines of the White House. Refuges that, of course, are also close to Trump-owned golf courses, of which the president often avails himself.

The effect of those diversions from Washington is remarkable. By our count, Trump has either held a rally or visited one of his own properties on 48 of the past 92 days; that is, since June 7.

He's probably played golf on at least 30 of those days, about a third, but it's hard to say. When he's at Bedminster, it can be tricky to know when Trump is playing golf because the media generally isn't given access to the facility. But since it is his primary form of exercise, it's safe to assume he usually plays when he's there.