President Donald Trump and administration officials gathered on the Rose Garden patio on Tuesday to offer ceremonial pardons to two turkeys, a decades-long presidential tradition that takes place ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Even as Trump spared Waddle and Gobble during the televised White House event, he skewered several of his political opponents with personal insults, joked about a foreign prison used to house immigrants deported at his behest, and made misleading remarks about the cost of Thanksgiving dinners under his administration. His efforts to inject divisive political commentary into the non-partisan ceremony were, however, interrupted by the startling size of the turkeys in attendance.
The sight even shocked Attorney General Pam Bondi, who couldn’t help but express her astonishment. “They’re surprisingly big, aren’t they?” she said to FBI chief Kash Patel and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick while laughing, according to professional lip reader Nicola Hickling, who viewed footage of the event. “Yes, I’m looking at the turkeys.”
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Before receiving symbolic pardons from Trump, Waddle and Gobble enjoyed a luxurious hotel stay at The Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. Both turkeys were raised in North Carolina under the direction of National Turkey Federation Chairman Jay Jandrain and Butterball contract grower Travis Pittman of Nahunta.
Though their appearance at the White House brought a touch of levity to a beleaguered Trump administration reeling from low approval polling and an election earlier this month that saw massive wins for Democrats, the president nonetheless used the moment to stoke the flames. The ceremony took a dark turn as Trump railed against crime in Chicago and insulted Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
As he touted the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., Trump complained about being blocked from doing the same in Chicago, The Associated Press reported. “Gov Pritzker, if you’re listening, let’s get your act together,” he said, while calling the governor a “big fat slob.”
“I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob. I don’t mention it,” Trump went on, before adding that he would like to lose a few pounds, too. Trump also reiterated his claim that former President Joe Biden had used an autopen for last year’s turkey pardon, which he claimed therefore made them “totally invalid.”
He went on to joke that “Peach” and “Blossom,” the turkeys pardoned by Biden, were on their way to be processed, but that he was officially pardoning them along with this year’s birds. He also joked about sending the turkeys to an infamous prison in El Salvador that has been used to house migrants deported from the United States.
Trump further joked that the birds should be named Chuck and Nancy — after Democratic stalwarts Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi — but “I would never pardon those people.” The president used part of his ceremonial remarks to insist that the price of Thanksgiving meals was dropping under his leadership, although his numbers are misleading.
Some research suggests that holiday dinners may be more expensive this year, a reminder of the persistent frustration with inflation. Meanwhile, Trump attempted to dispel any sign he is struggling to advance a plan to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after an earlier version faced swift criticism from European allies and even some Republicans.
“I think we’re getting very close to a deal. We’ll find out,” he said on Tuesday. He added, “I thought that would have been an easier one, but I think we’re making progress.”
In Washington, Trump faces the possibility of a splintering Republican coalition ahead of next year’s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Some members of his party already took the rare step of crossing the president by successfully pushing legislation to force the Justice Department to release more documents about the Jeffrey Epstein case.
He also faced a setback in court this week when a federal judge tossed cases against James Comey and Letitia James, two targets of the president’s retribution campaign. The president plans to fly south to his private Florida resort later Tuesday.
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