Biden departs swanky St. Croix beachfront retreat and to face harsh reality of his final days in office
President Joe Biden is once again facing reality as he wraps up his swanky vacation in St. Croix and returns to the United States to serve out the remainder of his term.
The 82-year-old Biden spent his traditional five-day New Year’s holiday in the US Virgin Islands with his daughter Ashley Biden, Hunter and his son Beau and First Lady Jill Biden.
The president had little on his public agenda, spending his time sunbathing at a beachside villa owned by friends Bill and Connie Neville.
The house is listed for $900 per night on the popular rental app VRBO.
The Bidens have stayed at Neville’s home for the past two years, visiting the beautiful ocean-view property when Joe was also vice president.
It is estimated that Biden has spent nearly 40 percent of his entire four-year presidency on vacation. According to Fox News, the trip to St. Croix was his 570th day off.
He heads back to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to spend New Year’s Eve before heading to Camp David for what could be one last time before leaving the White House.
Trump will take office in just 20 days, on January 20, 2025, when he will be sworn in at the Capitol.
Biden broke out of his holiday haze to address the death of former President Jimmy Carter, 100, on Sunday.
He made some not-so-subtle comments about newly elected President Donald Trump while speaking from St. Croix on Sunday evening about the late president’s life.
Biden repeated several times that the 100-year-old Carter stood for “decency.”
He stayed in a beachside villa owned by friends Bill and Connie Neville
Biden and Jill shake hands with House Representative Stacey Plaskett, Democrat of the Virgin Islands, before boarding Air Force One
The Bidens stayed at the private home of Bill and Connie Neville, who also offer their Virgin Island properties for rent
“Can you imagine Jimmy Carter walking past someone who needs something and just keeps walking?” Biden asked. “Can you imagine Jimmy Carter referring to someone by the way he looks or the way he talks?”
“I can’t do it, I can’t do it,” Biden said.
During his nearly decade in politics, Trump has often mocked opponents, including the way they look and how they talk.
Trump has mimicked Biden’s stutter a number of times.
Speaking to reporters, Biden emphasized that Americans would “do well to be a little more like Jimmy Carter,” while alluding to the current state of toxic politics.
“In today’s world, some look at Jimmy Carter and see a man from a bygone era, with honesty and character, faith and humility… But I don’t think that’s a bygone era. I see a man not just of our time, but of all time,” Biden argued.
Biden boards Air Force One en route to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden speak with a man before boarding Air Force One
“Someone who embodied the most basic human values that we can never let slip,” Biden continued. “Although it sometimes seems that way,” he said aside.
The president spent nine minutes in front of the cameras, coughing as he got going.
He said Carter was a “statesman and humanitarian” but also a close friend of Biden and the first lady.
He heads back to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to spend New Year’s Eve before heading to Camp David for the last time before leaving the White House.
Biden steps off Air Force One in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his grandson Beau
President Joe Biden made some not-so-subtle comments about President-elect Donald Trump as he spoke from St. Croix on Sunday evening about the life of the late President Jimmy Carter
“I’ve been around Jimmy Carter for over 50 years when it dawned on me,” the 82-year-old president said.
“I was always proud to say, and he often kidded me about it, that I was the first national figure to support him in 1976 when he ran for president,” Biden recalled.
Biden had entered the US Senate four years earlier at the age of 30.
“There was an overwhelming reason for it,” Biden said of Carter’s support. ‘His character.’
Carter would win the White House in 1976, but, like Biden, would serve only one term.
President Jimmy Carter has died at the age of 100. President Joe Biden made brief remarks about his friend from St. Croix on Sunday evening, telling reporters: “I’ve been hanging out with Jimmy Carter for over 50 years.”
President Jimmy Carter is photographed jogging on the South Lawn of the White House during his only term in office. President Joe Biden spoke about Carter’s many accomplishments — most of which occurred after he left office
“What I find extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people around the world, all over the world, feel like they’ve lost a friend too, even if they’ve never met him,” Biden said. “And that’s because Jimmy Carter lived a life measured not by words, but by his actions.”
Biden spoke of Carter’s many accomplishments — most of which occurred after his term in office — including helping to eradicate disease around the world, advancing civil rights and promoting “free and fair elections around the world.”
He also drew attention to Carter’s Habitat for Humanity work, building homes for the less fortunate.
“He built homes for the homeless with his own hands,” the president said.
Biden also addressed an issue that connected the Biden and Carter families: cancer.
“Jimmy Carter was as courageous in his fight against cancer as he was in everything in his life,” the president said.
When Beau Biden, the president’s son, died of glioblastoma in 2015, Biden said that “Jimmy and Rosalynn were there to help us.”
“Jimmy knew the ravages of the disease all too well,” the president continued. “He lost his father, his brother, his sister to this terrible disease.”
President Jimmy Carter made a final public appearance alongside dignitaries, including every modern first lady, at his wife Rosalynn Carter’s funeral in November 2023. He died Sunday at the age of 100.
Former first ladies (from left) Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Melania Trump appeared together at the funeral service for Rosalynn Carter in November 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Jimmy Carter will have services in both Atlanta and Washington, DC
“So when Jimmy was diagnosed, we did our best to comfort him,” Biden recalled. “We met him in Plains anyway,” Biden said, realizing he was delving too deeply into the subject.
Carter’s battle with cancer also took place in 2015.
“We spoke and shared our belief that as a nation we have the talent, we have the talent and the resources to one day end cancer as we know it, if we make the investments,” Biden said. “He believed that just like I did.”
Biden said the Carters “had an eternal love affair.”
The former first lady died in November 2023, when Jimmy Carter made her last public appearance along with other dignitaries — including every modern first lady — at the memorial service.
“The one thing I admired most about him. … He truly believed this, and so do I, that everyone deserves an equal opportunity. No guarantees, just an opportunity,” Biden said. ‘Everyone deserves a chance.’
“He gave an awful lot of people a chance,” the president continued. ‘I was an admirer. I consider myself a friend.’
“I think he’s happy, I think he’s happy with Rosalynn,” Biden also offered.
The president confirmed there would be a “major service” for the Democrat in Washington, DC
There is also expected to be a public service in Atlanta, Georgia, home of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
It will likely be the last time Biden hosts a major political gathering in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration on January 20.