Biden has been criticized for his long stretches of vacations along with a minimal work schedule as president since mid-July. The president has held a low-key presidential schedule since he tested positive for COVID-19 in July, following his announcement of withdrawing from the 2024 presidential election and endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris as front-runner for the Democratic Party ticket.

Last week, he gave a speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention that was delayed past prime-time hours of the convention. Immediately following his speech, the Biden family jetted off to California for a weeklong vacation at a billionaire donor’s 8,000-acre estate, dubbed the “Kiani Preserve,” in Santa Ynez, California. The president has been spending this week in Rehoboth Beach.

“Who is running our country?” several social media users asked on Wednesday, reacting to video and photos of Biden on the beach.

“Biden is now lounging on the beach during his SECOND STRAIGHT WEEK of vacations. This is ABSURD,” journalist Nick Sortor remarked.

Newsmax White House correspondent James Rosen pressed White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday about the leadership of the country while Biden has been away from the White House.

“The question I am hearing from the general public, which I put to you here, admiral, is ‘Who is running the country?’” Rosen asked.

Kirby pushed back on the question: “President Joe Biden.”

“Is he a ceremonial figure in some sense at this point?” Rosen inquired.

“James, you know better than that. I mean, my goodness, he talked to Prime Minister Modi today and he had calls with leaders in the region and in Europe with President Zelensky last week. He monitored in real time what was going on over the weekend. I mean, come on,” the NSC spokesman said to Rosen, adding, “The president is on vacation, but you can never unplug from a job like that, nor does he try to. He’s very much in command of making sure we can continue to protect our national security interests here at home and certainly overseas.”

Another person reacted on X to the Wednesday beach video of Biden, “We are paying Biden to do absolutely nothing.”

“Joe is kicking back. It just goes to show that Biden has never been in control,” another commenter said on X.

“Kamala told us at the DNC that he and [she] were working tirelessly to get those hostages home. Seems like he got tired and quit,” a social media user remarked on X.

Tom Bevan, the publisher of RealClearPolitics, posted the president’s approval rating over the past few weeks in August.

“Biden’s been on vacation for nearly a month since he dropped out. Here is his approval rating over the last 30 days,” Bevan said in a post with a picture of a graph showing that despite the criticisms of Biden’s empty work schedule, his approval numbers have stayed steady.

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Biden and Harris were also criticized this week for being absent from memorial events at the Arlington National Cemetery involving gold star families honoring the victims of the deadly Kabul airport attack by an ISIS suicide bomber who killed 13 American service members at Abbey Gate.

Former President Donald Trump was invited to attend the events and comforted the families on the anniversary while the president and vice president released statements and social media posts in remembrance of the loss of the service members.