US President Joe Biden, who is known for his love of ice cream, also knows how to find the time to enjoy the summer treat. In fact, the American president was reported to be seen relaxing on a beach in Delaware on Monday as part of a 10-day beach getaway.
The recent vacation taken by the president adds to the growing number of days he has already spent on holiday since taking office. According to reports, Biden has taken a total of 360 vacation days since taking office, amounting to nearly 40% of the time he has spent as US president.
Biden’s staff, however, has claimed the president continues his duties even when on taking some time off, with reports of the commander-in-chief being seen reading government documents while reclining on the beach.
Aides of former US President Donald Trump also claimed the former president was on a “working vacation” any time he was away from the White House. A data analysis published on in August 2020 revealed Trump spent all or a part of his 383 days of presidency at properties he or his private company owned, despite promises he made on the campaign trail prior to his election.
"I would rarely leave the White House because there's so much work to be done," Trump said to a news outlet in June 2015, the month he launched his first presidential campaign. "I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off."
Some of those locations include his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida, or his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
By comparison, French President Emmanuel Macron’s vacation in early August of last year sent environmentalists’ heads spinning when he was pictured jet skiing just weeks after calling on French citizens to conserve energy. On Bastille Day of that year, Macron told his citizens: “We must prepare for a scenario where we have to manage completely without Russian gas.”
Jet skis, however, can emit about 730 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) within three hours of use.
“This confirms the persistent impression that he does not understand climate change,” Green Member of Parliament Sandrine Rousseau said at the time of the jet ski drama. “And nowadays, it is criminal not to understand it.”
Recently, Macron, who enraged French citizens by using his constitutional powers to push through a controversial pension reform that would extend the retirement age, has told his ministers to keep their vacations modest this year in an effort to keep outraged voters calm.
Ministers, according to a report, were requested to stay within two hours of the nearest government office and to not take vacations to any destination deemed “distant” or “exotic.”
Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin, took his most recent vacation about two years ago in September of 2021. The Russian president is known to be an avid outdoorsman who prefers to spend his vacations close to home. In 2021, after a work-related trip to Russia’s Far East, Putin stopped for a few days in Siberia to enjoy hiking and fishing.