thanksgiving turkey

White House/Flickr (Public Domain)

Thanksgiving turkeys are the only White House guests not staying at Trump’s hotel

Perhaps it has gone to the birds.

 

Claire Goforth

Tech

Posted on Nov 25, 2019   Updated on May 19, 2021, 10:09 pm CDT

Every year since 1989, the president pardons Thanksgiving turkeys in a delightfully campy event where once is spared from the platter, the other bound for the slaughter.

(In reality, neither of the turkeys get eaten.)

This year, as they await the moment of truth, the pair are staying at the historic Willard InterContinental Washington hotel. They may be the only guests of the White House who aren’t staying at a Trump property.

President Donald Trump has been repeatedly accused of conflicts of interest because lobbyists, influence peddlers, think tanks, and sycophants, as well as representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, and Russia, have stayed in his properties, arguably in an attempt to curry favor with the U.S. government. He’s also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of government money on lodging for himself and his administration at Mar-a-Lago,  Trump International Hotel, and other Trump-owned properties.

Trump has insisted that it’s no “big deal.”

News of the turkeys’ D.C. residency, during which people will vote on which to pardon, inspired a wave of jokes and criticisms on Twitter. Not even the inclusion of some deeply hilarious photos of the turkeys gallivanting about the swanky hotel room could dissuade lots and lots of people from taking the opportunity to call Trump a turkey.

“Before I vote…how do they each feel about impeachment??” tweeted @donnamreiss. “The turkey pardoned will be the one who compliments the President most on his impeccable hair and perfect phone calls,” joked @belmontfakemare.

Many noted parallels to Trump’s recent pardon of three military service members, two of whom had been convicted of murder. “The President will pardon whichever turkey was convicted of war crimes,” @bengodar tweeted. “Pardon whichever one killed an enemy combatant and then took lurid pictures with him,” added @scottevanjenk.

https://twitter.com/AuroraHellstorm/status/1198988406967193600?s=20

https://twitter.com/tony04738056/status/1198787404330602497?s=20

So if Trump properties are good enough for the Secret Service, members of the administration, political candidates, foreign governments, and the president himself, why aren’t they good enough for turkeys?

Perhaps because they hail from a little town called Clinton, North Carolina.

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*First Published: Nov 25, 2019, 10:25 am CST