It was reporterd in Axios last week that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer desperately tried to keep his conference together and preserve the effects of the shutdown through the Thanksgiving holiday.
That's right, the flight cancellations and delays, the staffing shortages in air traffic control making the skies a little less safe, people in real need dependent upon food assistance programs continuing to go hungry, and the men and women in uniform, and their families, not getting paid for a full two months. That's what the Democratic leader wanted to gift the country next week while still referring to the chaos as Trump's shutdown.
Thankfully, eight Democrats did cave, along with six more in the House, and voila, the government reopened with a fortnight to spare before the four-day weekend. Now that we can shift into more normal debris, like the Epstein files, blowing up drug boats, and what Tucker Carlson or anyone sharing partial DNA with him does, I'm all for lightening the mood. The annual event of pardoning a turkey or pair of turkeys at the White House has become an official event since George Herbert Walker Bush first spared the axe to an anonymous bird residing in an undisclosed location. That tradition continued for all of Bush the Elder's four-year term.
Naturally, with any goverment program, even one that's silly, it expanded over time. By 1999, in President Bill Clinton's outer years, the birds were officially recognized. First, it was Harry the Turkey, followed in his final year of office by clemency for Jerry the Turkey.
President George W. Bush ushered in the two turkey pardon era in 2001, just a couple months after the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Liberty and Freedom were the appropriately named turkeys that survived the dining room table that year. 14 more birds would go free during Bush's time in office.
The only notable events during President Obama's term were passing Obamacare, setting the stage for bankrupting the healthcare system and bringing us full circle to Chuck Schumer's shutdown stunt he so desired to continue through your holiday. But in the turkey pardoning department, 2015's Honest and Abe were the standout birds given their freedom papers by Obama, and if you go all the way back to 1863, that's the first time any American president spared the life of a bird on Thanksgiving.
Historic America has a wonderul site that has a page devoted to the history of presidential turkey pardons. After being beseeched by Tad, who had taken a liking to a bird gifted to the Lincolns for the upcoming Thanksgiving Day dinner, Abe decided to spare its life. Tad had already named the turkey Jack, taught it to follow him around the White House, and had made him his pet. Abe didn't have the heart to eat him.
Finally, during the Joe Biden regency, thankfully lasting only four years, staff there couldn't even do this ritual ceremony right without screwing it up. In 2022, Biden the Feeble pardoned Chocolate and Chip. Two years later, obviously acting as though they had just met, Biden again pardoned Chocolate and Chip. Or maybe it was autopen that pardoned the same birds twice. One can never fully know what went on during that fog of American leadership.
As for me, I find the whole exercise pointless and silly. Turkeys have three purposes - eat, reproduce, be delicious.
It's always around this time of year that the PETA folks show up and demand we consume tofurkey instead. PETA-UK tweeted five times in all caps, because apparently the messaging the first time didn't sink in to the desired effect.
Girls don’t want to be raped, yet the UK continue to let in immigrants who do just that.
— Duane Patterson (@Radioblogger) November 14, 2025
The difference? Girls have the higher level brain function to form that desire and express it themselves.
Turkeys drown in the rain because they look up with their mouths open.
You’ll… https://t.co/w4SCfgdSi5
Look, my attitude to all the animal rights people is this. If you want to have an honest discussion about what I get to eat, first, you all must come out and spend just as much energy sparing the lives of every human being in utero. Call for the ban of abortions and spare the lives of the unborn, and then we can have a conservation about what's for dinner.
Of course, in their heart of hearts, most animal rights people and/or vegans are just fine with aborting human life. It's the poor turkeys and such that can't advocate for themselves, you see. But if they did choose to surprise me and sanctify human life the way they're trying to do with walking food, I'd be happy to have that conversation - over a cheeseburger. I would not consider changing for a nanosecond the way I eat, but I would at least show them respect for finally getting their priorities straight in the overall hierarchy of the food chain.
The White House press shop has not as of yet decided upon who gets the coveted Trump pardon signed in his own hand. I'm suggesting a break of protocol. Eat the bird, and issue a honorary pardon to a human turkey who really doesn't deserve it, but should at least be recognized for acting like a turkey recently.
My 2025 nominees:
Marjorie Taylor Greene. I think over the course of the hundreds of columns I've been privileged to write for Hot Air, I've written her name exactly one time - now. Donald Trump had comments on her on a Florida tarmac before coming back to Washington Sunday night.
🚨 JUST IN - REPORTER: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says her life is in danger.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 16, 2025
PRESIDENT TRUMP: "Marjorie TRAITOR* Greene. I don't think her life is in danger. Frankly? I don't think anybody CARES about her!" pic.twitter.com/9JNyyQv068
Zohran Mamdani. Apparently, Trump is going to try to give him a chance to be normal. My guess is the appearance might resemble Volodymyr Zelenskyy's first visit to see Trump in the Oval Office earlier in the year.
.@POTUS: "The mayor of New York would like to meet with us, and we'll work something out... We want to see everything work out well for New York." pic.twitter.com/cG2Dt9eRpQ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 17, 2025
Kate Sullivan: This one is a little inside baseball, but the White House reporter who left CNN to go work for Bloomberg in February seems to befoul the President's mood every time she pops off at a press gaggle.
🚨 LMFAO! President Trump BODIES another reporter: "Look, I can't-"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 17, 2025
REPORTER: -*Interrupts*
TRUMP: 🤨 "Will you LET me finish? You are the WORST. You're with Bloomberg, right? You are the WORST! I don't know why they even have you!"
Omg 😂 pic.twitter.com/pjKjRALM6D
Mike Barnicle - On Morning Joe last Friday with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Barnicle walked into a door so hard as to cause damage to both Barnicle and the door.
MSNBC tried to corner Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with a smug jab. Instead, Bessent dropped the hammer, reminding everyone he sold his stocks to serve.
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) November 14, 2025
As @Banned_Bill notes on @NEWSMAX, if you play with fire, don’t complain when you get burned. pic.twitter.com/gcogc5rJTF
Michelle Obama. This one really might be a no-brainer. Just give her a nice field somewhere to go live out her days in peace and comfort, clucking away about how white people expect too much out of Black people's hair, and this, apparently.
If there was ever a national incentive to remain as immature as the Senate Democrats who wanted to keep the shutdown going indefinitely, this woman would be that catalyst. In all of my years of doing politics, I've never seen so consistent a message of ingrattitude from a person who has fame, fortune, and the esteem of millions of people. Just go ahead and give her the paper with the Butterball approved sticker under the presidential seal and be done with the whole process.
And then, could we get back to focusing a smidge on affordability before we punt away 2026? Thanks.
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