President Joe Biden loves to go places. It seems he likes nearly any place that is far, far away from those who need him most. It has taken the president one full year to take notice of the victims and survivors of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, OH. Now, he wants to help what's left of the rural community. Number 46 is on the ground today, Feb. 16, keeping a promise made on Feb. 3, 2023, that he'd soon visit the contaminated area and speak with local and community leaders. It's a promise that East Palestine probably knew long ago wouldn't be prioritized.
Mr. Biden, however, did travel to Ukraine on the day he made that promise. He delivered aid – so at least he was helping someone; just not Americans who are struggling through devastating wildfires, toxic train derailments, and a free-for-all of chaos on the US border with Mexico. But Biden loves his European junkets to talk about climate change and he's fond of romantic walks on the beach near his weekend getaway in Delaware, and oh yeah, he's a Scorpio.
But is he an American president? Technically, he is indeed. In duty to his constituents, not so much, one might argue.
Biden Off to Tahoe as Maui Burns
During the most tragic wildfire on the island of Maui, HI, last August, Biden winged his way west – not to comfort and reassure the people of Hawaii but to relax at Lake Tahoe, where he breathed fresh mountain air untainted by burning embers. As Liberty Nation reported, "Ironically, Lake Tahoe is listed in Fodor's travel guides 2023 as a place tourists should not visit because too much traffic threatens the environment." A bit like all that international Air Force One travel on important climate business.
It was only after answering reporters' questions as he lounged on the Delaware beach that he dug a hole so deep – saying "no comment" on the disaster in the 50th state – that he finally had to head to the ravaged Pacific island to right his PR blunder.
While visiting devastated Lahaina, a small residential area of 12,000 folks, the president spent just a few hours comparing himself to people missing loved ones and reeling from a life completely interrupted. Biden recalled a raging kitchen fire that, if it had not been put out almost immediately - which it was - could have led to the loss of his Corvette. At the time, he was simply amazed the soles of his feet were hot.
He “consoled” the victims and survivors for a couple of hours before heading back to Tahoe.
Mexico is Not Near Israel
Cognitive decline aside, Scranton Joe is seriously geographically challenged. He must not know that the US-Mexico border is right here in the United States. It's a region inside a pressure cooker of illegal immigration that the Biden administration has left unattended on the stove. On Jan. 8, 2023, two years into his presidency, the Biden bandwagon stopped briefly in El Paso, TX. Although Gov. Greg Abbott had the good southern manners to greet the president on the tarmac, he also batted him about when telling reporters, "The president who caused the chaos at the border needed to be here. It just so happens he's two years and about $20 billion too late."
After four hours in Texas, Air Force One left for Mexico City on another summit that accomplishes little for the residents of states with porous borders.
But perhaps the southern border is not the Biden Administration's concern. After all, the president just recently proclaimed that Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was the "president of Mexico." Heck, that's a whole different continent.
The Job
The president of the US is afforded vacation. It's a stressful job. President Trump golfed at his resorts plenty of times in four years, amounting to 380 days of time off. As of Aug. 18, 2023, Biden has spent 382 days away, or 40% of his time.
Joe Biden has made 16 international trips to 23 countries since taking office on Jan. 20, 2021. Perhaps he has had a change of heart and will finally fit in his constituent duties, like today's East Palestine visit. After all, he now needs to convince America he is deserving of four more years.
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