As RedState reported on Tuesday, President Joe Biden and his family are heading to St. Croix to ring in the new year. You know, because they haven’t had enough vacations in the past year.

In a trip sure to cost taxpayers boatloads of cash (via travel, security, etc.), the Bidens will be staying at a picturesque private beach house while Americans are struggling to pay for eggs and home heating. That’s not what makes this trip unusual, though. After all, the president has had a penchant for taking sometimes weekly vacations even as the country has suffered under his tenure.

Rather, what makes this instance different is the fact that a winter storm is still ravaging the country, continuing to cause deaths. And yet, this is how the press is covering that decision.

.@POTUS and the Bidens have landed in St. Croix for vacation. pic.twitter.com/SukAQQsjrY

— Akayla Gardner (@gardnerakayla) December 28, 2022

Some of you may be old enough to remember another politician who jetted off to the Caribbean during a major winter storm and how he was treated by the press. Of course, I’m talking about Ted Cruz, who spent about 24 hours in Cancun with his daughters before being shamed into heading back to the United States.

Cruz, being a US Senator, had no actual role in the disaster response going on in Texas at the time due to the winter storm that had hit the state and much of the South. Yet, the press absolutely hounded him as being derelict in his duty for leaving his home (which likely didn’t even have power). They wrote snarky headlines, and networks like CNN devoted, in total, hours of coverage to what was essentially a non-story.

Yet, here’s Biden, who actually controls the nation’s emergency response systems, heading to St. Croix in the midst of a massive freeze that is still killing people, and the press has nothing at all negative to say about it. I wonder why?

And to be sure, I’ve got examples. See if you can spot the slight difference in tone and framing compared to Biden’s beach trip. You might have to squint a bit.

Look closely and you might notice a slight difference in framing and tone. pic.twitter.com/vKiGtE4bvC

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) December 28, 2022

You have to love how CNN did actually report on Biden’s Caribbean getaway, but they spun it as him going to contemplate his super duper important decision regarding 2024. I guess all Cruz needed to do was tell the press he was in Cancun to think about running for president and they’d have left him alone, right? Right?

It’s all just such a joke. Being a Republican means being held to ridiculous standards that don’t even make technical sense, i.e. Cruz not even having emergency response powers. Being a Democrat means not being held to standards that actually do make technical sense, i.e. Biden having emergency response powers.

How many elections have been swayed by that dynamic? It’s impossible to quantify, but I’d venture to say more than a few. It’s actually surprising that Republicans are able to keep the national tally as close as it is given the headwinds they must fight from a partisan press that doesn’t even attempt to hide its subversion.