03 January 2024 , 09:47
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President Biden may have spent too long on the sunbeds during a seven-day holiday in St Croix, after photos caught him looking red-faced.
The 81-year-old was getting ready to return to the White House when he was spotted in the US Virgin Islands on Tuesday with his face looking brightly coloured as he greeted people cheerily in Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, Christiansted, shortly before departing on Air Force One. The president boarded alongside First Lady Jill Biden, as they prepared for the upcoming election year.
It appears that Biden saw out 2023 in style as he turned up to the airport looking bright red with a tinge of tan which stretched right down to his chest. It was only last February that Biden had to have a cancerous skin lesion removed from his chest during the annual physical, along with another benign lesion believed to be potentially precancerous.
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The president posed with Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett before heading back to the mainland (AFP via Getty Images)Scientists and health officials have for a long time been aware that tanning increased your chances of joining the over one-million skin cancers diagnosed in the US each year - with most of these diagnoses considered to be sun-related according to the American Cancer Society. The Food and Drug Administration says: “Premature ageing is a long-term side effect of UV exposure. Avoiding UV exposure is essential to maintaining healthy skin.”
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Biden may have spent too long on the sunbeds on his travels (AFP via Getty Images)Upon his return to the White House from St Croix, Biden answered just one question from reporters, relating to migration and the US border after 302,000 crossed into the US in December. “We gotta do something, they gotta give me the money I need to protect the border,” he said.
But during the getaway, Biden enjoyed a few days with Jill and his granddaughter Natalie, as they stayed at the three-bedroom beachfront home of Bill and Connie Neville, major donors to the democrats. The secluded retreat has views of the Caribbean Sea, a pool in its ground and a private offshore island according to the New York Post, creating the perfect spot to escape the White House stresses.
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Biden returns to Washington amid major political debates surrounding the US border (AFP via Getty Images)It’s a popular spot for the president who stayed there last year too - and doesn’t have to pay the typical rental price. But Biden left amid something of a political storm, and was attacked by Republicans who said he should not take a holiday during the ongoing border crisis.
On his trip away he was seen in public just once when he went to mass and took his family for dinner - otherwise spending his time catching the rays in his luxury villa. It will have been much-needed recuperation as the 46th president faces multiple funding battles on his return to the mainland, as questions rage regarding Ukraine funding, border security, the 2024 election, attacks on US troops in the Middle East, and Biden’s poor poll ratings.