Trump is starting his last full day in office hiding from the public and plotting to steal Biden’s thunder, as his approval ratings plummet to historic lows

• President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated on Wednesday, meaning Tuesday is President Donald Trump’s last full day in the White House.
• Trump has spent the last days of his presidency hidden from public view, and with his approval ratings the lowest they have ever been.
• Trump is not attending Biden’s inauguration and is instead planning on stealing focus from the event, including by flying out early.
• Vice President Mike Pence has taken Trump’s place in many of the ceremonial tasks that presidents typically do before they leave office, like attending an inauguration briefing.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump is starting his last full day in office hiding from the public and with his lowest approval ratings ever.

President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration is due to take place on Wednesday in a ceremony Trump said he won’t attend, making him the first president since 1869 to buck the tradition.

Trump has also largely vanished from public life in the final days of his presidency.

Since some of his supporters staged a deadly riot at the US Capitol on January 6, the president has not made a single public appearance.

His aides have described him as angry and isolated in the White House, with CNN reporting late last week that aides had decided to limit his appearances before the media in case he veers from scripted comments about the riot.

The attack, and Trump’s response, saw him isolated from many in the Republican Party and in his own cabinet. A number of top officials have resigned in the wake of the riot, leaving him largely alone in the White House.

The House impeached him for a historic second time over his role in inciting the Capitol mob last week, and he now faces an impeachment trial in the Senate. North Dakota GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer told Insider last week that Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, has told GOP senators that they can vote however they want during the impeachment trial.

Trump will also leave office deeply unpopular.

A Gallup poll published on Monday found that 34% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – his worse performance in a Gallup poll during his entire presidency.

Gallup added that Trump’s average approval rating throughout his presidency has been 41% – four points lower than any other president that Gallup had polled.

A Pew Research Center survey also found last week that his approval rating was at 29% as he headed into his last week in office – a historic low.

Trump has put out some statements since the attack, but has largely been uncharacteristically silent.

While his accounts were removed from social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, Trump has still not turned to other platforms, like the White House briefing room.

As The Hill noted, Vice President Mike Pence has taken Trump’s place in many of the ceremonial tasks that presidents typically do before they leave office, like attending an inauguration briefing.

And Trump’s official schedule for his last full day in office mirrors the same vague entry he has had in place over the past few weeks: “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

Read more: The Justice Department promised the Trump White House that its hard drives won’t be handed over to Joe Biden

As Insider’s Tom Porter previously reported, Trump does have some plans for the final hours of his presidency, but they mostly appear focused on undermining Biden’s inauguration rather than spreading his own message or trying to control his legacy.

Trump is expected to issue around 100 presidential pardons or commutations on his last day, and he is reportedly considering a military-style send off in Inauguration Day.

But Trump is expected to have leave Washington, DC, for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida before Biden’s inauguration even begins. According to CNN, Trump’s aim is to avoid leaving the White House as an ex-president, and a source suggested that he didn’t want to ask Biden to borrow Air Force One.

However, his Inauguration Day plans pale in comparison to what was once expected from the president: He had at one point considered a rally with his supporters where he would announce a 2024 bid.

Trump advisers told The Hill that Trump plans to spend the immediate future with close aides in Florida as he considers his next steps.