I'm reading news on the web and having couple of questions on these two sentences:
- All this despite being a vocal critic of sitting presidents taking vacations.
- Working in Bedminster, N.J., as long planned construction is being done at the White House. This is not a vacation – meetings and calls!
Q1: I can not parse the sentence 1, because I can't identify the verb there.
Q2: Is "as long" a set phrase or it's short for "as long as"? I just can't find this usage from any web search.
For detail context, refer to here:https://www.yahoo.com/style/donald-trump-takes-break-crash-wedding-17-day-working-vacation-170040014.html