At this point a year ago, Donald Trump had every reason to feel confident and gracious. He’d just been elected to a second term a few weeks earlier, and as Thanksgiving approached, the Republican had plenty to be thankful for.
But as the holiday arrived, the president-elect struggled to contain his instincts. Instead of wishing Americans well on Thanksgiving, Trump lashed out at “Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country.” Around the same time, JD Vance posted a bizarre image via social media, which was soon followed by Trump posting a Thanksgiving-themed video that targeted Joe Biden and other Democrats.
A year later, surprisingly little has changed. USA Today reported:
Presidential turkey pardons are typically light-hearted holiday affairs with lots of fowl puns before Thanksgiving. But President Donald Trump took his Nov. 25 pardons of Gobble and Waddle in a different direction as he used remarks in the White House Rose Garden to target two of his Democratic adversaries: former President Joe Biden and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
It’s not easy for a president to screw up a Thanksgiving turkey pardon. This is supposed to be a fun little tradition. As White House events go, the events are harmless and easy.
And yet, over the course of roughly 19 minutes, Trump somehow found a way to turn this whimsical gathering into a political mess.
The very first words out of the president’s mouth at the event was a boast about how pleased he was with himself for paving the White House Rose Garden: “If this were grass today, you’d be sinking into the mud like they’ve done for many years.” The Republican then proceeded to target Biden (complete with a cheap “autopen” joke) and insult Gov. JB Pritzker. Trump called the Illinois Democrat a “fat slob.” If that weren’t quite enough, the president took the opportunity to target Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, to lie about crime rates in the nation’s capital and to tell an unfortunate joke about the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. In the grand scheme of things, Trump turning a Thanksgiving turkey pardon into an opportunity to lie and air petty grievances is par for the course in this White House, but it was also a timely reminder: This president isn’t just failing at his key governing responsibilities — he’s also making it clear that he can’t handle his ceremonial duties, either.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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