Here’s the back-and-forth between Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo and Trump on Sunday.
Bartiromo: “It’s worth noting that Biden spent this weekend in Delaware, his fifth trip home since becoming president. That’s his sixth weekend away from the White House.
“We’re not even 100 days in. Your reaction to this new administration, Eric?”
Trump: “I don’t even know where to begin.
“First of all, Maria, it’s heartbreaking to us. I saw how much time and effort my father put into the job. I mean, Biden is saying, well, I’m not going to go down there because I don’t want to inconvenience the Secret Service. And then you look at Kamala Harris, who’s standing in front of literally Air Force Two in that last picture, where you have got the greatest ecosystem.”
To quote Eric, I don’t even know where to begin.
Trump the Younger appears to be premising his entire argument that Biden is doing a bad job as president on:
1) He goes to Delaware on weekends
2) Vice President Kamala Harris was captured in a picture standing in front of Air Force Two.
Let’s examine each claim.
On the first, it is true that Biden has regularly returned to Delaware since winning the presidency. As CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Arlette Saenz reported on March 13:
“Feeling confined by what he’s termed the ‘gilded cage’ of the White House and seeking a dose of familiarity, Biden has begun a regular pattern of leaving Washington on the weekends. For the third time in the seven weeks he’s been in office, Biden returned Friday to Wilmington, continuing a pattern of weekend commuting he began as a senator and continued as vice president and seems poised to maintain as commander in chief.”
And yes, Biden was in Delaware this past weekend, too. And it wasn’t without incident; “President Biden’s weekend return to Delaware causes traffic tie-ups” read a headline in the Delaware News Journal on Friday.
But traveling to Delaware does not, inherently, mean that Biden isn’t focused on being president, as Eric suggests. Or if it does, then it might be time to reexamine his own dad’s time in office.
After all, according to stats from The Washington Post’s Philip Bump, Donald Trump visited a Trump Organization property every 3.4 days of his four-year term. Trump went to one of his properties on 240 of the 418 weekend days of his presidency — which breaks out to 57% of his weekend days. Trump played more than 250 rounds of golf in his term — roughly a round every 5.6 days.
Now, the presidency of course follows the president — whether he is in Delaware or on the links. There is no real vacation for presidents.
But Eric Trump can’t have it both ways. If it was fine for his dad to spend lots of time at Trump properties and on the golf course, then it has to also be OK for Biden to go to Delaware on the weekends. Unless — GASP! — Eric is being hypocritical!
Then there’s Eric’s other point — that Harris was photographed in front of Air Force Two.
This was a bit of a tougher nut to crack because, well, on its face what Eric is saying makes zero sense. He appears to be suggesting that Air Force Two has “the greatest ecosystem” and that Harris standing in front of it is some sort of, uh, affront.
A bit of digging turns up this nugget: Conservative media was outraged a few days ago that Harris was caught on video not returning the salute of troops as she got on Air Force Two during a return trip from Georgia. It was, argued former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, a “clear demonstration of her dislike for those in uniform, both law-enforcement and military.”
But as fact checkers noted, Harris isn’t part of the military chain of command and isn’t required to return the salute. Tempest in teapot over.
Here’s the good news for Eric Trump: He no longer has to be heartbroken! Because the sources of his heartbreak aren’t true! Phew!
