President Joe Biden and his family arrived in South Carolina on Wednesday for a week-long vacation on Kiawah Island hours after his grandson Beau stole the show upon departure by mimicking the president by wearing a matching blue mini-me suit and waving at the crowd.
Biden, accompanied by first lady Jill Biden, departed the White House by motorcade to Joint Base Andrews outside the capital where they were joined on Air Force One by his son, Hunter Biden, daughter-in-law Melissa Cohen and grandson Beau.
Baby Beau was decked out in a mini suit as he clung to his grandfather’s hand and waved to a military greeter, as the president saluted on the Air Force One’s stairs.
The trip comes after the president tested negative for COVID this past weekend, finally being free of his isolation and reuniting with his wife after spending nearly three weeks apart due to his infection.
Biden has been cleared to travel by his doctor but is still suffering from a post-COVID cough.
The Bidens have visited the Kiawah several times before – including four times when he was vice president – but this is his first visit since winning the White House.
While Biden is in South Carolina, the House is set to vote to approve a bill full of Biden’s priorities, including the most substantial investment in history to fight climate change, some $369 billion over the decade. The measure would cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 out-of-pocket for Medicare recipients and help an estimated 13 million Americans pay for health care insurance by extending subsidies provided during the coronavirus pandemic.
The White House demurred on when Biden plans to sign the bill, saying it was focused on helping ensure the House approved the measure.
Biden’s 2021 vacation plans were scrambled by Washington’s legislative calendar, a COVID-19 case surge, and the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
President Biden arrives to Kiawah Island in his motorcade on Wednesday. The vacation comes after the president tested negative for COVID this past weekend
We Love U Joe + Jill sign is seen along the route of the motorcade to Kiawah Island
Joe, from Johns Island, protests the presence of Joe Biden. He does not approve of the President going on another vacation. ‘He is the worst President in United States history.’ Groups of both protestors and supporters gathered along the route
Summer vacations are a presidential tradition. George W. Bush often spent August clearing brush in the 100-degree heat that baked his central Texas ranch. Barack Obama worked on his golf game on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. Donald Trump spent time at his home on his private golf club in central New Jersey.
The White House in the past has emphasized that the president is never truly free from the job’s responsibilities – and that he’ll continue to consult with aides and take his daily national security briefing regardless of his location.
And at times, presidents have had to make legacy-defining decisions while on vacation, including Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina flooding New Orleans in 2005. Bill Clinton ordered airstrikes against al-Qaida terrorists from Martha’s Vineyard in response to the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
And Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, planned the U.S. response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 from his family’s oceanfront compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.
