President Joe Biden has truly redefined the modern presidency — not just with the record number of unconstitutional policies and lack of leadership, but with an astonishing amount of time spent on vacation. In just under four years, Biden has racked up a jaw-dropping 532 vacation days. That feat that would take the average American worker about 48 years to achieve, according to data from the Republican National Committee (RNC) and tabulation made by the New York Post. In other words, nearly 40 percent of Biden’s time in office has been dedicated to, well, not being in office.
Overusing Vacations
“Biden spent today — his 16th straight day on vacation — lounging on the beach. He has spent a total of 532 days (40.3% of his presidency) on vacation. Who’s running the country?” posted the RNC on August 31.
According to the Post’s report, this staggering 40-percent out-of-office rate puts Biden leagues ahead of his predecessors in terms of time off. Former President Donald Trump, often criticized for his frequent trips to Mar-a-Lago, only managed to spend 26 percent of his presidency away from Washington. Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama both clocked in at just 11 percent of their presidencies spent on personal trips, while Jimmy Carter must have missed the memo — he only took 79 vacation days during his entire term, a mere 5 percent of his time in office.
Criticism
The Post’s editorial board wrote in a follow-up article on Monday:
Hand it to the president — he managed to wreck the economy, ignite a global conflagration and open the US border while basically working half-time….
Is there a better symbol of contemporary progressive politics than Joe asleep on his beach chair while soaring prices punish Americans and war rages in Ukraine and Israel?
The sentiment was echoed by Mark Paoletta, who served in the Trump administration. Paoletta didn’t hold back when discussing Biden’s apparent love of R&R:
The image of Biden fast asleep and lying flat on his back in his chair at the beach while America and the world [are] on fire will define the Biden presidency.
Other Republicans also wasted no time criticizing Biden’s leisurely pace. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.) suggested Biden might want to up his vacation game even more. “We probably would have been better off if he did even less and went on vacation more,” she quipped. She pointed to his reversal of Trump-era border policies and his handling of rising costs in energy and food.
The RNC, which reportedly tracks Biden’s vacation time, had earlier suggested the reason for such a lax schedule is the president’s mental decline.
“Given Biden’s declining stamina and proclivity for incoherence, the reason for his reclusiveness isn’t exactly a secret. He’s not up for the job,” argued RNC spokesman Jake Schneider in early January, per the Washington Examiner.
Some observers, such as Chase Geiser of InfoWars, opined that the president is getting paid for working on his tan instead of carrying out his presidential duties.
Who Is Running the Country?
Numerous commentators, much like the RNC, have continued to raise the question that has persisted throughout Biden’s presidency, marked by confusion, gaffes, and countless moments of incoherence: “Who is really running the country?”
“I keep forgetting that Biden is still technically in charge of the country,” posted Elon Musk, who recently endorsed Trump.
Lew Rockwell, founder of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, posted an essay by James Kunstler. It reads in part,
More than a few people, meanwhile, are beginning to ask who is running the country, since ‘Joe Biden’ is mostly off-duty, beaching it, not attending cabinet meetings, and probably not being consulted on any number of matters being carried out in his name.
Some recalled the memoranda (here and here) on delegation of functions and authorities that Biden signed in July. Through these memos, Biden delegated responsibility for various tasks to other government leaders, including the secretaries of state, defense, and energy, and the director of the Office of Management and Budget. These responsibilities include managing budgets, overseeing military programs, and directing certain operations. By delegating these tasks, the administration is ostensibly able to handle military affairs more efficiently.
The question of who truly holds power in the U.S. government resurfaced with greater intensity following the presidential debate between Trump and Biden, during which the latter’s cognitive decline was on full display.
At the time, Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone pointedly remarked:
[Americans] already kind of know on some level that the president of the United States doesn’t really run the United States….
If people really believed the president runs the country, they’d be freaking out that Biden in his demented haze might order an attack on what he may think is still the Soviet Union or nuke Libya to kill Muammar Gaddafi or something.
“They’re not,” she wrote, because the country is run by “unelected empire managers.”
Journalist Glenn Greenwald echoed that sentiment, posting on Monday:
The US has no functional president and has not had one for months, and it’s barely noticeable and barely matters because there’s a permanent unelected machine that runs the government.
Working From Home?
While the RNC counts all time Biden spends away from Washington as vacation, the White House argues that presidents never fully unplug from their responsibilities, even when out of the office. Biden himself, after stepping out of the 2024 race, emphasized his intention to “work like hell” through the remainder of his term, both as president and as a supporter of Kamala Harris’ campaign.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates dismissed the critiques, claiming Biden has actually taken fewer vacation days than the modern presidential average. According to the Post, he said,
It’s not a surprise that the same geniuses who attack President Biden for petting hero dogs and liking ice cream can’t count, but he has taken fewer vacation days than the modern average for presidents and works hard every day, wherever he is.
According to the Post, presidential aides consistently assert that, like his predecessors, Biden continues to fulfill his duties remotely during his time away and remains readily available to handle any pressing matters while away.
