President Donald Trump begins a 17-day vacation at his New Jersey golf resort today. It’s a tradition that presidents take time off during the summer, and so is the criticism that comes from the opposition.
The president will spend his "working vacation" at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, USA Today reported. His time away from Washington revived a tweet Trump made five years ago, when he criticized President Barack Obama for taking a vacation. It is currently No. 2 on the front page of Reddit, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Trump was quoting from "Think Like a Billionaire," his 2004 book about "the billionaire mindset," which was published at the height of his "Apprentice" television series on NBC.
Trump wrote that tweet while Obama was on a four-day trip to Asia, where he became the first U.S. president to visit Burma and Cambodia. He also criticized Obama in a 2014 tweet, USA Today reported.
“Whenever a president goes on vacation, the opposition always raises a fuss about it,” said Kenneth Walsh, author of the book “From Mount Vernon to Crawford: A History of the Presidents and Their Retreats.”
“It's sort of an easy target,” he said.
Trump's time off is “not a vacation,” tweeted Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics. “This is a marketing blitz. Lobbyists & foreign govts should watch to see if HSN live broadcasts any cheap deals on influence.”
In addition to his time at Bedminster, the president is planning to make day trips to other states to promote his policies, USA Today reported.
There is another reason for this vacation: Workers at the White House will spend the next two weeks replacing the heating and cooling system in the West Wing, forcing the president and his aides out of their work spaces, including the Oval Office.
“I don’t think any of you would like to be in the West Wing on an August D.C. summer day when it’s over 100 degrees with no air conditioning," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.
About the Author
