Eric Trump criticized President Joe Biden for spending time away from the White House during times of national crisis but the irony of his remarks appeared to be lost on him.
You can hear his remarks, which he made during an appearance on Fox News personality Sean Hannity's program, in the video below.
He said:
"The other thing that really bothers me, Sean, about this situation is, where is everybody during this crisis?"
"Every crisis that Biden has and every single day there's another one, whether it be Afghanistan or the border, right, the leaders leave."
He went on to suggest that Biden's time at home is a sign of wider incompetence within the Biden administration, making a point to specifically criticize Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"So Pete Buttigieg during this whole crisis is nowhere to be found."
"He's on paternity leave, right, but then you add Kamala Harris when you have this massive border crisis and where does she go?"
"She goes nowhere near the border in fact she goes to South America to not solve that problem and she goes overseas to Asia to again not work on that problem."
"When Afghanistan is falling, guess what? You have President Biden who is in Delaware not solving that problem."
"Why is it that every person in the Biden cabinet flees and runs away every single time there's a problem as opposed to actually putting their head down, getting to work and solving the damn problem?"
The irony here is that Trump's father, former President Donald Trump, was often criticized for taking trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate during times of national crisis, and earned a reputation for spending more time on golf courses than any other President.
In fact, former President Trump spent time on the grounds of his golf courses or played golf elsewhere at least 308 times between January 20, 2017 and December 30, 2020, according to one count.
The former President was criticized at one point for installing a golf simulator in the White House at the same time his demand for a border wall triggered a month-long partial government shutdown.
His leaked schedules also featured long blocks of "executive time," periods when his schedule showed no official meetings.
Eric Trump's hypocrisy did not go over well with the public.
Eric Trump's statements are also misleading for failing to mention his family's habit of taking trips at an enormous cost to taxpayers.
The Trump family took more trips in fiscal year 2019 that required protection from the Secret Service than the Obama family took in seven, according to a report from watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"On average, Obama's family took 133.3 protected trips per year, while the Trump family has taken an average of 1,625 annually," CREW observes, citing a budget document from the Treasury Department.
The organization goes on to note that:
"On average, Obama's family took 133.3 protected trips per year, while the Trump family has taken an average of 1,625 annually."
"Much of the Trump family's known travel has been to promote Trump Organization businesses, which President Trump still owns and profits from."
"Every President and his family deserve Secret Service protection. But the President's private business should reimburse taxpayers for money spent at Trump's businesses or in support of them."
All in all, the data shows that former President Barack Obama and his family made about 4,700 trips from 2010 to 2016, with just over 1,000 of those being for the president's family, excluding former First Lady Michelle.
Comparatively, former President Trump and his family took 4,560 trips between 2017, 2018, and 2019, most of these within the last two years.
