President Trump skipped his weekly address on Friday, the first time he’s done so in his administration.
“Not this week,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the Hill when asked about Friday’s missing address.
Trump started sharing a weekly video address on Jan. 28, the second week of his presidency. The addresses have previously been uploaded to YouTube, typically on Fridays, and shared on Facebook and Twitter.
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The weekly presidential addresses, which have been a White House tradition since former President Ronald Reagan, have seen record numbers of viewers under Trump according to the Boston Globe.
His early addresses have more than 150,000 average views on YouTube and sometimes much more.
Trump received over three times more viewership than former President Barack Obama did over the same period of time, according to the Globe, averaging 1.7 million viewers for the first 15 addresses. Obama also uploaded his addresses to YouTube.
The tone of Trump’s and Obama’s addresses is similar, as both men read prepared statements from a teleprompter on specific issues.
White House staffers involved with the addresses told the Globe that they would be open to filming the addresses less frequently or stopping them altogether if viewership declines.
Last week’s address earned just over 70,000 views.