Republicans stood by former President Donald Trump as he spent hundreds of days in his golf resorts during his tenure.
After tolerating Donald Trump’s frequent golf vacations for four years, Republicans are now attacking President Joe Biden for not spending every moment in the White House.
“Biden is on vacation,” tweeted Trump’s hand-picked chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, on Wednesday, “after stranding hundreds of Americans in Afghanistan.”
She was referring to a message from the Associated Press that Biden plans to spend Labor Day weekend in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
In the past few weeks, several Republicans in Congress have also attacked Biden for spending part of August working from home or from Camp David, the president’s official country residence.
“American troops are dying. And Joe Biden is still hiding on vacation,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik falsely claimed last Thursday.
“Biden has only spent 4 of the last 15 days in DC,” complained Georgia Rep. Jody Hice. “No wonder his administration is in chaos!”
“American citizens are still in danger and our president went on vacation and refused to do ANYTHING,” Texas MP Ronny Jackson accused unfounded. “Biden is INCOMPETENT!”
But Republicans stood by then-President Donald Trump for four years as he frequently left Washington, DC to visit his golf courses and other resorts.
Despite campaign promises to “rarely leave the White House” and “not have time to golf,” Trump spent nearly 300 days on golf courses during his tenure, costing taxpayers an estimated $ 148 million.
According to a Washington Post count, Trump spent 428 days of his only tenure visiting one of his own Trump Organization properties – an average of more than two days a week.
Trump claimed these were truly “working” trips – even though he played hundreds of rounds of golf on those visits.
“I’m going to Bedminster, it’s a beautiful place, but it’s never a vacation. It works most of the time, ”he told reporters in July 2019 and joined his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
The Republicans didn’t attack Trump for these trips. McDaniel often praised him as “hard working” for the American people.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) retweeted McDaniel’s tweet on Wednesday. He made nationwide news in February for vacationing with his family in Cancun, Mexico, amid massive winter storms in his state. Millions of his constituents were left without clean drinking water or electricity when he traveled to a luxury Ritz-Carlton resort.
Trump isn’t the only former president to have spent much of his presidency outside of Washington, DC
A 2014 analysis by FactCheck.org found that George W. Bush spent more than 875 days at Camp David or his ranch in Texas. He spent most of the time cleaning the brush.
Ronald Reagan also spent hundreds of days in California on his ranch at the Western White House.
Published with permission from the American Independent Foundation.