WASHINGTON, Nov 26 — Lame-duck President Joe Biden had a message for Americans at his final Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremony yesterday before Donald Trump returns to the White House — “keep calm and gobble on.”
Biden, 82, spared birds Peach and Blossom from ending up on the dinner table in a quirky and time-honoured tradition marking the upcoming US holiday.
In a series of quips to a large crowd on the presidential mansion’s South Lawn, Biden remarked that Peach “lives by the motto ‘keep calm and gobble on’” — while Blossom’s philosophy was “no fowl play.”
He added that during their trip to Washington from the Minnesota farm where they were raised, the two feathered beasts “stayed calm and they gobbled on, and they’re still gobbling.”
But the Democrat’s words — through which the turkeys did indeed repeatedly make gobbling noises — also struck a poignant note as he prepares to leave the White House on January 20.
Republican Trump, who defeated Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election, looks set to tear up many of Biden’s policies.
Trump’s promises of mass deportations, a gutting of the federal bureaucracy and huge tariffs on foreign imports have caused uncertainty at home and abroad.
Biden said he wanted to close his remarks on a “more serious note,” pointing out that it was “my last time to speak here as your president during this season.”
“Let me say to you, it’s been the honour of my life, I’m forever grateful,” said Biden, who dropped out of the election in July after a disastrous television debate against Trump.
Ruffled feathers
The outgoing president has however promised not to ruffle any feathers during the transition to Trump — unlike his rival, who continues to falsely insist that his 2020 election defeat by Biden was fraudulent.
And while Trump refused to attend the Democrat’s inauguration in 2021, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will be at the Republican’s swearing in on January 20, the White House confirmed Monday.
“He views that as an important demonstration of commitment to our democratic values and to honouring the will of the people,” Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told reporters flying with Biden to a Thanksgiving event in New York.
As he nears the end of his single term in office, Biden’s attention will soon turn to the human pardons that US presidents usually give before departing the White House.
“They tell me there’s 2,500 people here today — looking for a pardon,” Biden quipped.
Biden has said that however that there is one he will not give — to his son Hunter Biden.
The younger Biden was convicted earlier this year of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun — a felony — and has also pleaded guilty in a separate tax evasion trial.
Hunter Biden, whose young son Beau was at the turkey pardoning ceremony, has yet to be sentenced in either case.
The White House said yesterday it had nothing to add to Biden’s previous comments on possible clemency for his son. — AFP
