Potato in Mass
Hanging withDavid Rubensteinat the mansion.
This fag came up in January while digging on the Potato Papers in Chinatown
The Other Thanksgiving Tradition: President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden to return to Nantucket
Published: Nov. 20, 2023, 2:56 p.m.
Break out the fine china, Massachusetts. The First Family is Bay State-bound.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are set to return to Nantucket on Tuesday for their family’s annual holiday stay on the island famed equally for its cute cottages and proximity to big-money Democratic donors.
The Biden have been coming to the island for more than 40 years, according to the local Nantucket Current. The White House already has been preparing for their arrival, with government aircraft dropping off supplies at Nantucket Memorial Airport, the newspaper reported.
This year, as in past years, the Bidens will be hosted by David Rubenstein, the billionaire co-founder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, the Washington D.C.-based private equity titan, who owns a $30 million home on the island, according to The Daily Mail.
The civic-minded Rubenstein has donated millions of dollars to help preserve the nation’s landmarks, including a $10 million infusion on 2012 to help repair the Washington Monument, The Hill, a newspaper that covers Washington, reported earlier this year.
In 2014, Rubenstein gave $12 million to the National Park Foundation to restore Arlington House at the Arlington National Cemetery. He also has donated nearly $30 million to the National Park Foundation to help restore the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson memorials, the publication reported.
“The theory behind representative democracy is that it will work if you have an informed citizenry. And when our country was created, the premise was that we would have an informed citizenry to make intelligent votes,” Rubenstein told The Hill.
The Bidens, meanwhile, first started spending holidays on the island in 1975, the New York Times reported in 2021.
Biden, and his then wife-to-be, Jill, had multiple invitations to dinner that year. Instead of disappointing potential hosts, they decided to spend Thanksgiving on the island with Biden’s sons Hunter, and the late Beau Biden, following the recommendation of his chief of staff, Wes Barthelme, Biden recalled in his memoir “Promise Me Dad,” the Times reported.
Biden’s public schedule for the week was not immediately available. But the president is expected to visit the island’s downtown district on Friday ahead of the annual tree-lighting ceremony that starts at 4 p.m., according to The Nantucket Current
And if you’re looking for a last-minute room, you can pretty much forget it. The island’s hotels are expected to be filled by U.S. Secret Service, government personnel, Massachusetts State Police, and, of course, the media, the newspaper reported.
On Monday, Biden took part in another rite of the season, pardoning two turkeys, Liberty and Bell, at the White House, where he managed to confuse Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, according to The Daily Mail.