Remember when Democrats were slamming Trump for taking vacations during his presidency? You know, the trips he payed for out of his own pocket.
The media crucified Trump for spending too much time at his resorts, said he was profiting because Secret Service rented rooms at Trump’s properties. They claimed Trump was taking advantage of the presidency even though it is standard practice to make POTUS as comfortable as possible and that often includes visiting Kennebunkport under the first Bush and in Crawford for the second Bush.
Trump was richer than the other presidents and owned hotels so it made sense to put up government officials at Trump’s properties.
The media is still running stories about how much the government spends at Trump’s hotels, insinuating he is scamming the taxpayer as he has lifetime secret service protection.
But what they never once mention is that Biden did the same thing as Vice President. Just on a smaller scale. Biden owns a rental property near his beach house and he rented it to the Secret Service when he was VP.
Well it has been verified that President Biden has far surpassed Trump’s vacation getaways by a long shot.
President Joe Biden decamped to Wilmington on Friday, escaping the White House he’s likened to a “gilded cage” for a weekend at his Delaware home. It’s yet another weekend away from Washington as the President has spent a noteworthy portion of his first year in office at one of his two Delaware homes or at Camp David, working remotely.
Biden’s public schedule indicates the President has spent a significant amount of time away from the White House, particularly on weekends, since his January inauguration. Including this weekend’s trip to Delaware, Biden has taken 35 personal trips and spent all or part of 108 of his first 276 days in office at one of his Delaware homes or at Camp David in Maryland. That includes partial days, like Friday — when he spent the day at the White House and departed in the evening.
Sixty-nine of those 108 days away from Washington were spent at his home in Wilmington, spread over 23 visits; seven days at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, beach house over two visits; and 32 days at Camp David over 10 visits.
Typically, his chopper commute from the White House to his Wilmington home takes less than an hour, and a White House official noted that many of the partial days included Biden departing the White House at the conclusion of a normal workday on a Friday or returning to Washington before the start of a workday on a Monday.
That puts Biden ahead of the pace set by former President Donald Trump, who had spent less time at his Florida and New Jersey getaways at the same point in his presidency than Biden has spent in Delaware.
While most presidents have prioritized taking time away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this is the most time a president has spent away from the White House on personal travel at this point in the presidency in recent history.
Biden has expressed, “I said when I was running, I wanted to be President not to live in the White House but to be able to make the decisions about the future of the country.”
When it all boils down to it, the double standard is the issue not that President’s golf or travel or even renting rooms to Secret Service protection details.
