WASHINGTON — Donald Trump once questioned the wisdom of taking vacations. “What’s the point?” he asked.

But now the president is getting ready to join the annual August exodus from the city he calls “the swamp.” Trump is due Friday to begin his first extended vacation from Washington since the inauguration: 17 days at his private golf club in central New Jersey.

The vacation could be driven in part by necessity. Everyone who works in the White House West Wing, including the Oval Office occupant himself, must clear out by the end of the week so that the government can replace a balky, 27-year-old heating and cooling system.

The White House hasn’t been entertaining questions about the president’s August plans. Asked whether Trump would leave Washington this month, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday: “We’ll continue to keep you guys updated on his August schedule as those details are finalized.”

Trump and his supporters like to publicize his disdain for taking vacations, when the truth is that he takes them constantly.

“Don’t take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job,” Trump wrote in his 2004 book, “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire.”

Actually, Trump gets out of town quite often. So far, he has spent 13 of 28 weekends in office away from the White House, mostly at his properties in Palm Beach, Fla., or in Bedminster, N. J., according to an Associated Press count.

The figures include a weekend during official travel overseas, and Father’s Day weekend at Camp David, the government-owned presidential retreat in Maryland.

Contrast Trump’s frequent getaways with his criticism, before and during last year’s presidential campaign, of former President Barack Obama’s vacations and frequent golf outings.

“(at)BarackObama played golf yesterday. Now he heads to a 10 day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. Nice work ethic,” Trump tweeted in August 2011.