Frank Giaccio is an 11-year-old boy from Falls Church, Virginia who wrote the president a letter asking if he could mow the White House lawn. Last month, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders read Frank’s letter during the daily briefing:
Dear Mr. President, it would be my honor to mow the White House lawn for some weekend for you. Even though I’m only 10, I’d like to show the nation what young people like me are ready for. I admire your business background and have started my own business.
Sanders also announced that Frank was going to be invited to the White House and would get the chance to mow the lawn. Friday, Frank got his wish. From NBC News:
Frank was so focused on pushing the lawn mower, he didn’t notice Trump had emerged to greet him until the president was next to him in the Rose Garden.
Trump says Frank is “the future of the country” and will soon be “very famous.”
Frank said he wants to be a Navy SEAL, to which Trump exclaimed, “He’ll make it.”
Frank really did mow a section of lawn that was more than symbolic. As you can see in the video, he was very focused on completing his task. In fact, when President Trump came up to him and said he was doing a “great job” Frank just kept mowing until the groundskeeper and Frank’s dad stepped in. At that point, Frank stopped and gave the president a high five.
Trump introduced Frank to the assembled media and then invited him (and his father) into the Oval Office. Trump added, “Maybe he’ll be President.” But before any of that, Frank had to finish mowing.
I half-expected Salon or maybe Slate to run this story under the headline, “Trump violates child labor laws at the White House.” So far it seems only a handful of nuts on Twitter are bringing up child labor laws, so maybe this means President Trump is slowly becoming “nomalized.”
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