As more Americans struggled to pay their monthly bills this Thanksgiving, President Joe Biden spent the holiday living like a king.
Fleeing D.C. on yet another vacation trip, Biden spent Thanksgiving at a lavish home owned by billionaire David Rubenstein in tony, exclusive Nantucket, Massachusetts, home of the super-rich and famous.
In fact, he fled Washington D.C. well ahead of the holiday, as Air Force One was seen touching down at Nantucket Memorial Airport on Tuesday evening, according to Fox Business Network.
The Daily Mail reported that the White House and federal security personnel flooded Nantucket Island with operatives prior to the Thanksgiving-week visit.
Huge military cargo planes had been arriving at Nantucket airport for a week ahead of the holiday. Inside some of them were a fleet of giant, armored SUVs as well as motorcycles to be used to cart the president and his entourage back and forth from the airport to the Rubenstein property.
No ordinary Joe: A look back at Biden’s $84M in vacation stays thanks to some of America’s richest people https://t.co/YNk6xdquK4 pic.twitter.com/vjrPdTPE9z
— New York Post (@nypost) November 22, 2023
The reports added that there would be about 20 vehicles, 30 motorcycles, an ambulance, and a dozen police vehicles in the president’s motorcade.
The White House reported that grandchildren Naomi Biden and her husband Peter Neal, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie, Little Hunter and baby Beau Biden would all be staying at the Nantucket residence.
The president also had no business on his schedule all week except for a call to service members on Thanksgiving Day.
Indeed, the White House “called a lid” on Joe’s public availability at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. “Calling a lid” means that the president will have no further public appearances and will be doing no public work.
Biden, on vacation in Nantucket, called a lid at 3:34 pm.
Not like anything important is happening. pic.twitter.com/y2OZwgom1e
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 22, 2023
Biden did stage a holiday “photo op” for reporters by delivering pumpkin pies to firefighters Thursday, pausing to make a statement about a release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists, Reuters reported.
The family reportedly also followed an annual tradition of taking a “polar bear plunge” in the chilly waters on Thanksgiving Day.
Annual Biden fam polar bear plunge ?❄️
Happy Thanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/pUuC6e5Qal
— Naomi Biden (@NaomiBiden) November 23, 2023
Biden’s choice of holiday lodgings crowded out other people who hoped to visit the area for the holidays, because all the local hotels were filled with law enforcement officers, White House support staff, Secret Service agents and members of the media, Fox Business Network added.
The Bidens have been flying in to take advantage of Rubenstein’s home for the holidays for the last three years. Rubenstein, the co-founder of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group, who is reportedly worth $3.5 billion, according to Forbes, has offered the $34 million, 13,000-square-foot home, situated on a 14-acre plot, to the Bidens since 2021.
But while Joe and “Doctor” Jill celebrated in the lap of luxury, the rest of America did not fare nearly as well.
Americans faced soaring prices for their own Thanksgiving Day meals this year. The costs of turkey-day fixings were up a punishing 25 percent overall, compared to the costs of the meal items during Donald Trump’s term in office.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost to feed ten people this Thanksgiving was up to $61.17. That compares very unfavorably to the $53.31 seen during the Trump years.
Let’s talk turkey. This year’s Thanksgiving feast for 10 will run you
$61.17—about $6 dollars per person, according to Farm Bureau’s #ThanksgivingSurvey. That’s a 4.5% decrease from last year, but a Thanksgiving meal is still 25% higher than in 2019.? https://t.co/gATnRarttk pic.twitter.com/pvnac5RC6I
— American Farm Bureau (@FarmBureau) November 15, 2023
The cost of turkey was also higher this year than it was during the Trump years. The average cost of a 16-pound turkey was $27.35 this year, according to CNBC. In 2019, during Trump’s last year in office, that same turkey cost only $20.80, Forbes noted.
Sadly, for some low-income Americans in New York, there wasn’t a turkey in the oven on Thanksgiving Day. That is because illegal aliens flooded the local food banks in the Big Apple and gobbled up all the turkeys that were supposed to go to legal citizens in the New York City Housing Authority, according to reports.
While he wallowed in luxury once again this year, Joe Biden’s policies made Thanksgiving less enjoyable for nearly every lower and middle-income family in America. Let’s hope this can be remedied on Election Day next November.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.