What you need to know
President Donald Trump granted a full “pardon” to two turkeys named Gobble and Waddle during the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation at the White House on Tuesday, November 25th.
In honor of the annual tradition, the president and first lady Melania Trump joined their guests on the Rose Garden patio Tuesday afternoon and decided they wouldn’t be getting two lucky turkeys for Thanksgiving.
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Rather than being the centerpiece of the table, the turkey was shipped to Washington, D.C., where it was treated to a luxurious stay at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel. They were each grown in North Carolina under the guidance of National Turkey Federation President Jay Jandrein and Butterball contract grower Travis Pittman, according to the first lady’s office.
Only one bird, Gobble, was able to enjoy the spotlight in the Rose Garden, but both birds were safely returned to North Carolina, where they will spend the rest of their lives under the care of the University of North Carolina’s Department of Pre-Poultry Science.
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The Trumps also made plans to travel south after the ceremony. On Tuesday night, they are scheduled to leave for their Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, where they plan to stay until Sunday.
On Thanksgiving Day, the Trumps will honor the modern tradition of calling military personnel from home.
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According to the White House Historical Association, the turkey pardon ceremony is a formal White House tradition that has evolved over the years.
White House lore holds that the true origin of the tradition lies in President Abraham Lincoln’s pardon of his son Tad’s turkey in 1863, but it did not become a more ceremonial event until much later.
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President Trump last performed such a ceremony in 2020, when he pardoned a corn and cob turkey in the White House Rose Garden with just weeks left in his term. “Look at that beautiful, beautiful bird. So lucky. That’s a lucky bird,” he said at the time, as he placed the corn on a table decorated for photos. “Kohn, I hereby grant you my full forgiveness. Thank you, Kohn.”
This year’s Thanksgiving tradition comes a day after first lady Melania Trump kicked off Christmas festivities by leaving the presidential palace to pick up this year’s official White House Christmas tree from Michigan-based Colson’s Tree Farm.
The arrival of the Christmas tree also means that Melania Trump will soon unveil her 2025 holiday decorations, which came under repeated scrutiny during President Donald Trump’s first term, with some comparing her choice of a blood-red cone-shaped Christmas tree to the red cloak in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
The White House said in a statement at the time that the bright red was a reference to “the pale colors or stripes found in the presidential seal designed by the Founding Fathers” and is “a symbol of bravery and courage.”
