NC turkeys get Trump pardon with a side of prayer and politics

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued the official Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon to two North Carolina birds, pausing first to pardon last year’s turkeys, saying former President Joe Biden’s 2024 pardons were invalid.

“Sleepy Joe Biden, he used an autopen last year for the Turkey Pardon,” Trump said. “I have the official duty to determine, and I have determined, that last year’s Turkey Pardons are totally invalid, as are the parts of about every other person that was pardoned – other than, where’s Hunter? That was the one that was good, right? The rest of are all invalid.”

NC’s former Governor Roy Cooper attended the Biden 2024 pardon as a special guest of President Biden and Mrs. Jill Biden.

“Peach and Blossom have been located and they were on their way to be processed, in other words to be killed, but I have stopped that journey,” Trump added. “I am officially pardoning them, and they will not be served for Thanksgiving dinner. We saved them in the nick of time.”

This year, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomes North Carolina’s Travis Pittman of Nahunta Farms with his birds Gobble and Waddle, delivering the official 2025 pardon. Gobble was on display in the White House Rose Garden ceremony after winning an online public poll to get the official pass. Both turkeys will return to North Carolina to live out their days at NC State University.

“These are two of the largest turkeys ever presented to an American president over 50 pounds each. It’s the largest we’ve ever had,” said Trump, calling them ‘MAHA turkeys’ and adding, “I’ve never seen a turkey that big before; are they violent at all? Because if they are, I’ll stay right up here.”

Trump also joked that he considered renaming the turkeys “Chuck and Nancy” after the Democratic leaders of US House and Senate, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, but insisted he wouldn’t be able to pardon them. On a more serious note, Trump used the holiday spotlight moment to celebrate the first year of his administration and lower grocery prices for this Thanksgiving.

“The price of a Thanksgiving turkey is down 33% from a Biden era high, ham is down 15% compared to last Thanksgiving, so we are down to a level that we haven’t seen in a long time,” said Trump. “Egg prices are down 86% since March, and gasoline will soon be hovering around $2.00. Under our leadership we passed the largest tax cuts in history, the largest spending cuts in history, the largest regulation cuts in history, and we have fully secured our southern border. I’ve also ended 8 wars in nine months.”

For travelers hitting the road this week, AAA reports that more than half of states will see gas prices below three dollars a gallon for the first time since the pandemic started. In 2022, gas prices hit a record high average at $5.016 per gallon. The national average this week for gas is $3.10 per gallon. North Carolina fuel prices are an average of $2.789 per gallon, with Washington County the lowest in the state at $2.607 per gallon.

“This is a very special Thanksgiving,” Trump concluded. “We thank God for his many blessings and the great success that this country has seen in the short period of time. We draw strength from the love of family and friends, and we express our undying gratitude for the men and the women of the United States armed forces. We love them, we pray that peace and prosperity will continue to bless our land, and together we’ll just keep this great drive going to make America great again.”