President Donald Trump is eager to be seen as a "serious" leader, but according to his former biographer, his latest attempt to project that image fell flat.

Trump made a rare visit this week to Camp David, the Northern Maryland wilderness retreat operated by the Navy and often used by sitting presidents for getaways and important private meetings. According to The Daily Beast, Trump was accompanied on the trip by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, among others.

Rather than focusing on the major issues surrounding the war engulfing the presidency, Trump reportedly used the meeting as "a venting session for Trump to air his frustrations to a room of his sycophants," with particular attention to the troubles delaying his "slush fund" and the possibility of Democrats winning the midterms.

Michael Wolff, a longtime reporter and author best known for his coverage of Trump, including several books on his chaotic first term in the White House, addressed the visit in the latest edition of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head." Wolff said the mere fact that Trump went to Camp David suggested something about his intentions, given that he reportedly "hates" the retreat.

"The fact that he is at Camp David now actually probably means something," Wolff said, arguing that it was an attempt at "trying to be presidential." He added, "He is trying to evoke, in the middle of a war that he can’t get out of and that he can’t solve, it’s, ‘ I am a serious president, a serious guy trying to solve this."

The Daily Beast noted that Trump has used Camp David far less often than his predecessors. Although he made more use of it during his first term, in his second term "he has made only sporadic trips." That makes the setting itself part of the message, since Camp David is traditionally associated with privacy, deliberation and high-level presidential meetings rather than the more public style that often surrounds Trump.

Wolff said that if the goal was to appear more serious, the Camp David trip appeared to have failed.

“Now of course then he goes to Camp David, and it doesn’t appear to be serious at all,” Wolff said. “It’s just more of the Trump show, which he cannot not do... Camp David is supposed to be the place where it’s a presidential retreat. A president goes to be by himself or with his intimates and think, quiet time, all of which Trump does not have, does not want, cannot endure.”

Trump also did not stay overnight at the retreat. Wolff said bedding has been an "issue" for the president and suggested that the rustic style of the retreat's "Aspen Lodge" was too much for him.

“He won’t spend time on the details of going to war, but on bedding at a hotel he comes alive,” Wolff explained. “I can’t think of anything that would be in greater stylistic and aesthetic contrast than Camp David and the Trump aesthetic.”