Twelve years after he was soundly defeated by Republican Richard Nixon in the 1972 election, former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern was asked how long it had taken him to recover. “I’ll let you know when I get there,” the South Dakota Democrat quipped. So it stands to reason that Kamala Harris, who entered Election Day with even odds and ended it far behind Donald Trump in the electoral count, could use a vacation. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the American Federation of Teachers’ 88th National Convention on July 25, 2024 in Houston, Texas. The American Federation of Teachers is the first labor union to endorse Harris for president since announcing her campaign. (Photo by Montinique Monroe/Getty Images) “Part of the problem is you’ve been going nonstop for 18 months,” said former Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, who lost decisively to George H.W. Bush in 1988. “Your time clock is all screwed up. Walter Mondale told me for months after he lost to [Ronald] Reagan [in 1984] he kept waking up at 2 a.m.” Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, arrived on Hawaii’s Big Island on Tuesday and are scheduled to remain through next week. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed temporary flight restrictions for “VIP Movement” beginning at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday to noon Monday. A Harris aide told NBC News that the trip had already been delayed as the vice president wanted to make sure she was not needed for any tiebreaking votes in the U.S. Senate to confirm judges nominated by President Joe Biden. Critics say the Hawaiian trip, a Thanksgiving tradition for Harris and her family, is badly timed, with “Europe bracing for WWIII,” as the Daily Mail’s headline on a story about the VP’s vacation suggested. Others say it’s just not a good look for the vice president to escape to Hawaii while Democrats try to figure out how to manage the debt tied to the $1 billion spent by the Harris/Walz ticket. Already the Democratic National Committee has been forced to lay off staffers without any severance. Asked Thursday at the daily briefing whether President Biden thinks, “from an optics perspective,” about Harris leaving Washington “when so many DNC staffers are literally wondering what they’re going to do,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre argued the downtime is well-deserved. “The vice president has taken time off to go spend time with her family,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. … She has worked very hard for the last four years, and her taking a couple of days to be with her family: Good for her.” But critics say Harris has received plenty of time to absorb her defeat. After she secured the Democratic nomination, the vice president took several days off from campaigning, a contrast to Trump’s breakneck pace. “No, I can’t get over it. Who the hell takes off?” Trump said in October. “You have 14 days left, and she’ll take a couple of more days off, too. You know why? She’s lazy as hell, and she’s got that reputation.” While most people on social media have supported Harris’ decision to take a break, MAGA nation has shown no sympathy. “She’s going to be out of a job in about two months,” said one commenter on X. “She could have definitely waited, especially since she took a bunch of time off to campaign and then a whole week off to recover from campaigning. I’m glad we didn’t end up with this lazy woman.” Others have no problem with the vacation but do agree it was badly timed. “I don’t think the ‘few days off’ is the problem, KJP. It’s the timing,” said a commenter on X. “Her boss has just approved the escalation of the war in Ukraine, for one, and it appears that faced with Putin’s threats, there is no one at the helm. So maybe it’s good for her, but not for National Security.” ‘She Could’ve Waited’: MAGA Crowd Bashes Kamala Harris for Taking Hawaii Vacation As Karine Jean-Pierre Shut Downs Reporter Who Questions Vice President’s ‘Down Time’