Democrats made a huge deal about Donald Trump’s work habits. They actually started a website that kept track of the number of “golf days” Trump enjoyed.
But Joe Biden has exceeded the former president’s days off.
Biden has taken 35 personal trips and spent all or some of 108 of his first 276 days as president in either Delaware or at Camp David, according to CNN.
Of Biden’s 108 days away from the White House, he spent 69 of them at his Wilmington residence spread out over 23 separate visits. The president has spent one week at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home and been at Camp David 32 times over 10 visits, according to CNN.
These trips have come amid multiple crises – an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a supply chain crisis, the chaotic end to the war in Afghanistan, the border crisis and more. In fact, Biden faced criticism in August for being away at Camp David as the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
Actually, it doesn’t really matter where the president spends his time. He has access to the most sophisticated signals technology has known and can reach anyone anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice, so it’s hardly relevant where the president is at any given moment of the day.
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But the left started this nonsense about Trump’s golf habits being an issue even though he had access to the same communications networks as a president sitting at his desk.
Biden’s predecessor was also a fan of leaving the White House – but Biden is outpacing Trump in this regard. The former president spent all or part of 61 days at his Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster properties as well as all or part of nine days at Camp David during the same period of time, according to CNN.
In fact, Biden is beating out most recent presidents, the network noted. He’s ahead of former President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush’s travel days, as well.
“Presidents of the United States are constantly on the job, regardless of their location; whether they’re on a state visit overseas or just 100 miles from the White House for a short trip to Wilmington,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told CNN. “Wherever he is, the president spends every day working to defeat the pandemic, to ensure our economy delivers for the middle class – not just those at the top – and to protect our national security. Also, as all Americans can agree, it’s important for leaders to avoid becoming ensconced in Washington, D.C.”
Whether they’re “ensconced in Washington, D.C.” or relaxing on the golf course in Delaware, presidents are in a bubble. The bubble has several layers of security and communications, but it’s a bubble nonetheless—self-contained and completely independent.
Perhaps it’s a holdover from the time that presidents needed to be in the White House with their fingers on the pulse of a crisis to be effective. President Johnson was stuck in a remote hospital room on November 22, 1963, waiting for word on what was happening with President Kennedy. Did the assassination presage a large-scale attack? Were Russian missiles already on the way? Johnson had no idea. In fact, he had no clue what was happening a couple of dozen feet from his room, where doctors were battling to save JFK’s life — a futile battle, but Johnson didn’t know that.
Perhaps we should all grow up a little and stop trying to make an issue of where a president spends his time.
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