This is the way Biden world ends. Not with a bang but a gobble.
Joe Biden, 82, once the defender of democracy and saviour of America’s soul, is heading for the door, about to trade the nuclear codes for golf clubs and beach loungers. Power is as fickle as fame.
But on a crisp, sunny Monday he pulled off one last win over old rival Donald Trump by drawing surely the biggest crowd ever seen at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning. And he knows how obsessed Trump is with crowd sizes.
“They tell me there’s 2,500 people here today,” said Biden, standing at the presidential lectern on the south lawn and quipping, “looking for a pardon.”
He laughed and so did the crowd. When a downbeat Trump held this event at the end of his own presidency in 2020, there were shouted questions such as “Mr President, will you be issuing a pardon for yourself?” Biden has ruled out a last-minute pardon for his son, Hunter, convicted on federal gun charges.
But a mischief-maker with a dark sense of humour might have named this year’s turkeys Nancy and Barack, after the two Democrats who hastened the president’s exit from the election race after his disastrous TV debate against Trump.
Instead the two white-plumed birds, raised in Minnesota, were called Peach and Blossom, named after the official state flower of Biden’s home state, Delaware.
Wearing his trademark aviator sunglasses, Biden, marking his final holiday season at the White House, could not resist remarking: “And by the way, Delaware has a long history of growing peaches. In fact, the peach pie in our state is one of my favorite. It’s a state dessert!”
He added: “Peach blossom flower also symbolises resilience, which is, quite frankly, fitting for today.”
It was ostensibly a comment about the turkeys’ resourcefulness in avoiding the Thanksgiving dinner table. Some might also have detected a poignant acknowledgement that, even Biden talked turkey, a man his allies branded a fascist is down at Mar-a-Lago preparing to hammer America’s democratic institutions all over again.
George HW Bush made it an annual tradition to formally pardon a Thanksgiving turkey, though tales of the birds being spared from dinner tables go back to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Biden recalled that, in the past four years, he has continued the tradition by pardoning Peanut Butter and Jelly, Chocolate and Chip and Liberty and Bell. “And today, Peach and Blossom will join the free birds of the United States of America.”
As he continued, Peach could be heard gobbling. “Yeah, I hear you,” Biden said, as the crowd laughed. “Peach wants to speak a little bit here.”
Peach weighs 41lbs, loves to eat tater-tot-topped hotdish, enjoys cross-country skiing, dreams of seeing the Northern Lights and lives by the motto, “Keep calm and gobble on”, the president quipped. Blossom weighs 40lbs, loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing, dreams of visiting each of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes and lives by the motto: “No fowl play, just Minnesota nice”.
The turkeys had travelled 1,100 miles over 16 and a half hours, listening to their favourite music, including the song Living on a Prayer. Biden added: “Well, fellas, your prayer is going to be answered today. Based on your temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby pardon Peach and Blossom.”
And so the lame duck pardoned the turkeys.
As is customary, Biden then promised to close on a more serious note. He acknowledged that this would be his last time speaking here as president during this season. “So, let me say to you: It’s been the honour of my life. I’m forever grateful.”
There were characteristic reflections on those who have lost loved ones, the importance of family and how America is the greatest country on earth. “And that’s not hyperbole,” he added, as if anticipating dissenters. “We are.
“No matter what, in America, we never give up. We keep going. We keep the faith. We just have to remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. There is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.”
It is a line that Biden uses often at the end of his speeches. But on Monday it sounded like a plea from a man whose legacy is imperilled. With Trump’s promise of mass deportations, gutting of the federal bureaucracy and “America first” isolationism, a presidency that once seemed so consequential is at risk of fading fast.
Despite the big crowd, Biden’s turkey farewell felt more muted than that of Barack Obama who, despite the knowledge that Trump was looming, managed to remain cheerful fire off a “a corny-copia of dad jokes about turkeys”. Obama that day seemed demob happy; Biden like a man in denial.
Peach and Blossom will now head to an agricultural centre in Minnesota to help promote the state and educate future farmers. Biden, riding off into a sunset of his own, may find retirement brings far less peace.
