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Trump's 17-day holiday causes a stir
Like many denizens of Washington DC, President Donald Trump is escaping the heat that smothers the nation's capital in August.
But his respite is anything but brief. The president will spend 17 days at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for what the White House bills as a "working vacation".
For someone who brands himself as an indefatigable worker, the nearly three-week holiday has raised a few eyebrows.
In his 2004 book, Think Like a Billionaire, Mr Trump offered the advice: "Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job."
However, the president's departure is also part of a planned renovation. The entire West Wing staff is required to vacate the premises in August while the building's 27-year-old heating, air conditioning and ventilation system is replaced, according to White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.
Other maintenance includes repairing steps on the side of the executive mansion facing the National Mall as well as painting, replacing carpets and curtains, and fixing, ahem, water leaks in the press office.
Why is Trump being criticised?
Mr Trump often carped about President Barack Obama's penchant for golf.
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
@BarackObama played golf yesterday. Now he heads to a 10 day vacation in Martha's Vineyard. Nice work ethic.
6:36 PM - Aug 15, 2011
But as critics point out, Mr Trump's 17-day holiday is nearly twice as long as the one Mr Obama took in August during his first year.
If weekends are included, that means he's taking off 13 days, compared with Mr Obama's eight.
"I'm going to be working for you, I'm not going to have time to go play golf," Mr Trump told a Virginia crowd during the campaign, in a gibe at Mr Obama.
Before Mr Obama's August 2009 holiday in Martha's Vineyard, he took two other vacations that were said to entail work, including a weekend trip to Arizona and Colorado and a four-day trip to the family home in Chicago for Valentine's Day.
By comparison, Mr Trump has taken 11 such "working" vacations before this month to his properties in Palm Beach, Florida, and New Jersey. He also spent a weekend in June at the government-owned presidential retreat, Camp David, Maryland.
Mr Obama was labelled a hypocrite, too, after writing in his 2008 book The Audacity of Hope that no president should take vacations.
Mr Trump told 60 Minutes in November: "There's just so much to be done, so I don't think we'll be very big on vacations, no."
Last month, he told Republican senators to cancel their holidays until lawmakers could pass a plan to overturn the health law known as Obamacare.
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