Several liberal figures called on conservatives and President-elect Donald Trump supporters to give thanks to illegal immigrants on Thanksgiving, suggesting they acknowledge a large portion of migrants were the ones who harvested and packed their entrées enjoyed on Thursday.
"Everyone at the dinner table today, especially MAGA, please give thanks to the undocumented immigrants that picked and packed the food you’re enjoying," said former Obama Housing & Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.
"They deserve our grace. Happy Thanksgiving," the former San Antonio mayor added.
Castro’s post was lambasted by respondents, who rhetorically asked which crops were being picked by the migrants flooding New York City and Chicago, while others suggested the characterizations were "racist" assumptions about farmworkers.
Others replied by saying this Thanksgiving they are "thankful for Tom Homan" – Trump’s incoming border czar.
Meanwhile, on MSNBC, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., was asked about migrant farmworkers who may not have legal status in the U.S.
Host Jonathan Capehart reported Thanksgiving costs were down 5% over 2023 and that nearly half of farmworkers are noncitizens.
"There's no indication that Donald Trump would exempt agricultural workers from his calls for mass deportation when he takes office," Capehart told Garcia.
"Donald Trump ran a whole campaign centered around denigrating and sometimes outright lying about immigrants… Immigrant labor is a key part of the American economy, and that includes immigrants who pick so much of the food that all of us will eat tomorrow and on Thanksgiving."
Garcia said he "completely agrees" with the pundit, adding that team Trump’s rhetoric has been "frankly un-American and shameful and would harm the economy."
Garcia added that many food service workers also lack legal status and that it would be wrong to ignore their contributions this Thanksgiving.
"So the idea that we're going to have mass-deport all of these workers that we depend on that our families depend on is absolutely crazy. It's inhumane, it is un-American," he said, adding mass deportations of those workers would badly hurt the economy.
"I think it's really quite shameful what's actually happening right now. I hope Americans push back on it, and especially this Thanksgiving, are thinking about all these people that are just asking to be here just so they can work and provide for their families and quite frankly, provide for the country."
Actor and occasional Trump critic John Fugelsang posted on X that when the Wampanoag Native Americans fed the pilgrims who landed in present-day Massachusetts, "they had no idea they'd just invented a social safety net for undocumented immigrants."
In that vein, a meme circulated on X depicting a pilgrim accepting a roasted turkey from a Native American with the caption, "Thanksgiving: Celebrating the day Americans fed undocumented immigrants from Europe."
President-elect Trump on Thursday wished a happy Thanksgiving to all Americans, including those he called "Radical Left Lunatics," as he vowed to "Make America Great Again" when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2025.
In the message posted on Trump’s Truth Social account, the president also had some choice words for those on the "radical left."
"Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country, but who have miserably failed, and will always fail, because their ideas and policies are so hopelessly bad that the great people of our Nation just gave a landslide victory to those who want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump wrote. "Don’t worry, our Country will soon be respected, productive, fair, and strong, and you will be, more than ever before, proud to be an American!"
Trump later posted a photo of him posing with law enforcement and wished all a happy Thanksgiving.
While it was unclear where the president-elect would be spending Thanksgiving this year, he spent his previous Thanksgiving holidays at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, which was commonly referred to as the "Winter White House" during Trump’s first term.
Trump, who declared Mar-a-Lago his primary residence in 2019, has been working with his transition team to select members of his administration’s cabinet since defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Fox News Digital learned Wednesday that nearly a dozen of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with "violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them," prompting a "swift" law enforcement response.
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director; Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense; and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump's nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
When President Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday, little did he know he was spelling the beginning of the end to the prominence of the original patriotic celebration held during the last week of November: Evacuation Day.
In November 1863, Lincoln issued an order thanking God for harvest blessings, and by the 1940s, Congress had declared the 11th month of the calendar year's fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day.
That commemoration, though, combined with the gradual move toward détente with what is now the U.S.' strongest ally – Great Britain – displaced the day Americans celebrated the last of the Redcoats fleeing their land.
Following the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776, New York City, just 99 miles to the northeast, remained a British stronghold until the end of the Revolutionary War.
Captured Continentals were held aboard prison ships in New York Harbor and British political activity in the West was anchored in the Big Apple, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
However, that all came crashing down on the crown after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and new "Americans" eagerly saw the British out of their hard-won home on Nov. 25, 1783.
In their haste to flee the U.S., the British took time to grease flagpoles that still flew the Union Jack. One prominent post was at Bennett Park – on present-day West 183 Street near the northern tip of Manhattan.
Undeterred, Sgt. John van Arsdale, a Revolution veteran, cobbled together cleats that allowed him to climb the slick pole and tear down the then-enemy flag. Van Arsdale replaced it with the Stars and Stripes – and without today's skyscrapers in the way, the change of colors at the island's highest point could be seen farther downtown.
In the harbor, a final blast from a British warship aimed for Staten Island, but missed a crowd that had assembled to watch the 6,000-man military begin its journey back across the Atlantic to King George III.
Later that day, future President George Washington and New York Gov. George Clinton – who had negotiated "evacuation" with England's Canadian Gov. Sir Guy Carleton – led a military march down Broadway through throngs of revelers to what would today be the Wall Street financial district at the other end of Manhattan.
Clinton hosted Washington for dinner and a "Farewell Toast" at nearby Fraunces' Tavern, which houses a museum dedicated to the original U.S. holiday. Samuel Fraunces, who owned the watering hole, provided food and reportedly intelligence to the Continental Army.
Washington convened at Fraunces' just over a week later to announce his leave from the Army, surrounded by Clinton and other top Revolutionary figures like German-born Gen. Friedrich von Steuben – whom New York's Oktoberfest-styled parade officially honors.
"With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable," Washington said.
Before Lincoln – and later Congress – normalized Thanksgiving as the mass family affair it has become, Evacuation Day was more prominent than both its successor and Independence Day, according to several sources, including Untapped New York.
Nov. 25 was a school holiday in the 19th century and people re-created van Arsdale's climb up the Bennett Park flagpole. Formal dinners were held at the Plaza Hotel and other upscale institutions for many years, according to the outlet.
An official parade reminiscent of today's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was held every year in New York until the 1910s.
As diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom warmed heading into the 20th century and the U.S. alliance with London during the World Wars proved crucial, celebrating Evacuation Day became less and less prominent.
Into the 2010s, however, commemorative flag-raisings have been sporadically held at Bowling Green, the southern endpoint of Broadway. On the original Evacuation Day, Washington's dinner at Fraunces Tavern was preceded by the new U.S. Army marching down the iconic avenue to formally take back New York.
Thirteen toasts – marking the number of United States – were raised at Fraunces, each one spelling out the new government's hope for the new nation or giving thanks to those who helped it come to be.
An aide to Washington wrote them down for posterity, and the Sons of the American Revolution recite them at an annual dinner, according to the tavern's museum site.
"To the United States of America," the first toast went. The second honored King Louis XVI, whose French Army was crucial in America's victory.
"To the vindicators of the rights of mankind in every quarter of the globe," read another. "May a close union of the states guard the temple they have erected to liberty."
The 13th offered a warning to any other country that might ever seek to invade the new U.S.:
"May the remembrance of this day be a lesson to princes."
As the 2024 election season comes to a close, several prominent figures in the media and Democratic Party find themselves on the short end of the stick with disappointing performances at the ballot box.
Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Democratic Party lost the majority in the U.S. Senate in the November election, where Republicans now control the chamber
"As I’ve said time and again, in both the majority and the minority, the only way to get things done in the Senate is through bipartisan legislation while maintaining our principles — and the next two years will be no different," Schumer said in a statement following the November election.
Despite Vice President Kamala Harris' decisive loss to President-elect Trump, Schumer praised her for her "historic candidacy" that "inspired millions."
Both Schumer and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi vigorously campaigned for the Biden and Harris tickets, and Pelosi was reportedly instrumental in pushing President Biden off the ticket in favor of Harris, which ultimately was not successful.
Following the election, Pelosi has faced intense scrutiny from Democrats and liberal media outlets for her role in pushing Biden out at the last minute.
Pelosi has pointed the finger at Biden, arguing after the election that he should have dropped out sooner.
"And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in [a primary] and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened," Pelosi told The New York Times. "And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different."
Axios reported in a piece headlined "Scoop: House Dems sick of Pelosi" that while she "still instills fear in the members she led for two decades," some Democrats are "clearly frustrated Pelosi isn't fading into the sunset like she promised when she lost the gavel two years ago."
The Soros money machine that has propped up progressive lawmakers and district attorneys across the country suffered significant losses in blue California on election night as voters overwhelmingly rejected progressives on the issue of crime.
California voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prop 36, which rolled back key provisions of Proposition 47 that was advertised by Democrats in the state as progressive crime reforms that would make the state safer.
When Proposition 47 passed in 2014, it downgraded most thefts from felonies to misdemeanors if the amount stolen was under $950, "unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes."
Progressives suffered another major loss in the city of Los Angeles, where District Attorney George Gascón, who co-authored Prop 47 and was backed by Soros, was defeated by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman as crime was seen as a top issue of the election cycle.
In another loss for Soros-backed prosecutors in the Golden State, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled, less than two years after taking office, following backlash for her alleged soft-on-crime approach.
Oakland Democratic Mayor Sheng Thao, who faced heat from her constituents amid rising crime, was also ousted from office after her recall effort passed with 65% of the vote.
In San Francisco, where crime has been a major concern with voters, Democratic Mayor London Breed lost her re-election campaign.
"I think that this is broader than just a message from people who care about crime," Cully Stimson, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and co-author of the book "Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America's Communities," told Fox News Digital.
"This is a massive mandate and cry for help from the general population that we want our state back. We want our counties back, and we want our cities back and that our failed social experiments have had enough time, and they're an absolute, abysmal failure."
Soros' son, Alex, who has taken over as the main face of the Soros empire, faced heat from conservatives on the campaign trail when he publicly huddled with vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in his New York City penthouse.
Celebrities endorsing Harris
Harris’ presidential campaign was perhaps the most star-studded in modern political history, with high-profile names like Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Usher, Beyoncé and many others hitting the campaign trail promoting her candidacy in person or in ads, which ultimately failed to move the needle with swing-state voters.
The Harris campaign, which shelled out more than $1 billion in a three-month spending spree, has faced scrutiny for spending millions of dollars on high-profile events with celebrities, including from the Chicago Tribune, whose editorial board wrote, "Having someone with a large following simply stand next to a candidate at a podium and say a few words, solo, is one thing; doing a whole livestreamed event with, say, Oprah Winfrey, is another."
"Better yet, rather than do such events, the Harris campaign would have been better advised to let its candidate answer questions from independent journalists and give her more of a chance to explain herself and lay out her plans for America’s future," the editorial board wrote. "Celebrity osmosis did not work; voters wanted to hear more about what Harris would do for them."
Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, who won re-election in a state Trump won by more than 10 points, ripped his party this month for trotting out high-profile celebrity endorsements during the 2024 election cycle.
"Like, no one cares what some of these— we like their movies, we like their music. Who they’re voting for? Eh, not so important," the lawmaker told CNN anchor Kasie Hunt.
Pollsters
After many prominent outlets and pollsters missed badly on predicting Trump’s performance in 2016, many conservatives have been panning pollsters for failing to predict Trump’s electoral sweep of the key swing states along with his popular vote victory.
"Once again, there was about a 3 point aggregate polling miss, underestimating Donald Trump's support," conservative commentator Charlie Kirk posted on X after the election. "The polling miss was about 4 points in 2020. The hidden Trump vote strikes again."
Veteran pollster J. Ann Selzer took the brunt of the criticism from conservatives after her Des Moines Register poll released days before the election showed Harris winning Iowa by three points. Trump ended up winning the state by more than 13 points.
"My free advice to Democrats is fire all these consultants, pollsters, and so-called experts that gave you advice on how to reach the Hispanic vote because they don’t know jack, OK?" Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is Trump's nominee for secretary of state, said this month on "America Reports" regarding the shift of Hispanic voters toward Trump.
"The truth of the matter is, Hispanic voters are not in favor of illegal immigration, they are not in favor of uncontrolled immigration into our country, they are not in favor of allowing criminals to roam our streets and kill, murder, rape. Hispanic voters are not in favor of high prices that make life unaffordable, and they are not in favor of policies that send our jobs to other countries," he continued.
Biden/Harris re-election campaign
President Biden made history this summer when he dropped out of the presidential race amid pressure from many within his own party and essentially handed the reins to his vice president despite calls to hold an open primary process.
After several months of campaigning along with a spending blitz of $1 billion, Harris ultimately failed to make the case to voters that the Biden-Harris administration policies should be continued with four years of a Harris presidency.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson, Alexander Hall and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
An article from NBC News suggesting that Thanksgiving dinner costs are historically low and enable a 10-person gathering to feed itself for under $60 was ripped by conservatives on social media this week.
"You may not know it by looking at sticker prices in grocery aisles, but Thanksgiving dinner is more affordable than it has been in years," NBC News wrote citing data from the American Farm Bureau Federation.
"The costs of this year’s holiday feast – estimated at $58.08 for a 10-person gathering, or $5.81 a head – dropped 5% since last year, the lowest level since 2021."
The article's headline read: "Thanksgiving dinner is historically affordable this year"
Conservatives on social media quickly blasted the reporting and the suggestion that Americans will experience relief from inflation at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year.
"I just bought a single turkey for $85," Grabien founder Tom Elliot posted on X.
"It costs $60 for a family of 4 to eat at McDonalds," author John LeFevre posted on X. "But NBC News wants you to believe that Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people is $58 – the most affordable in 40 years."
"No one who buys groceries believes this," conservative radio host and commentator Dana Loesch posted on X.
"If anyone can pay for everything needed for a 10-person Thanksgiving dinner for $58.08, I want to see a picture of all of your groceries," journalist Jennifer Van Laar posted on X.
"This is bull----, of course," attorney Harmeet Dhillon posted on X. "Carry on."
"What are they eating?" Breitbart News reporter Elizabeth Weibel posted on X. "Mozzarella sticks? I just got groceries for a Thanksgiving dinner for 16 that cost roughly $240."
The Commerce Department on Wednesday reported that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index rose 0.2% in October and 2.3% year over year, and inflation ticked up slightly in October as prices remained stubbornly high for consumers,
October food prices were up 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.1% from a year ago. Food away from home was up 3.8% annually, while food at home was up just 1.1% in comparison. The largest price increase among food items was for eggs, with prices up 30.4% on an annual basis in October even though they declined 6.5% from September.
Fox News Digital's Eric Revell contributed to this report
The Las Vegas Raiders are big underdogs against the Kansas City Chiefs, and understandably so.
The Chiefs have not looked like the traditional NFL power they've been in recent years, but they are 10-1 as the back-to-back reigning Super Bowl champions.
The Raiders, meanwhile, are going with Aidan O'Connell at quarterback and are in the hunt for the No. 1 pick in the draft with a 2-9 record, tied for the worst in the league.
"Let’s call a spade a spade — best team in football against the worst team in football," he told reporters Wednesday.
"Let’s change the narrative. Let’s go out there and make it a dogfight. Let’s make it ugly, let’s make it scrappy. It’s Black Friday. Let’s create a little chaos and get back to Raider football and have some personality and let it loose."
The Raiders went 2-0 against the Chiefs last year, including a surprising victory at Arrowhead Christmas Day. That, apparently, was a blessing in disguise for Kansas City, because the Chiefs ran the table after that loss.
Earlier this year, the two teams met in Vegas, and the Chiefs returned home with a 27-20 victory.
The Action Network has the Chiefs as 7.5-point favorites.
Dallas Cowboys fans who will be in attendance for the team's Thanksgiving game against the New York Giants are choosing to spend dinner time of their holiday watching two of the league's worst teams.
They'll be there, some leaving their families at home, to support the most disappointing Cowboys team since 2020. And the organization will be feeding fans a specially curated Thanksgiving spread that includes burgers and egg rolls loaded with gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce.
"Think Thanksgiving egg roll style," Stadium Chef Heather Fuller told FOX 4 in November 2023. "It’s got everything some of these other items have. It’s just in egg roll form, and then you dip it in the gravy and eat it. So, it’s something fun, something different and something very unique. So, we’re excited to be able to roll that out this year."
The egg roll is making a return to the team's Thanksgiving lineup this year, but this year it will also include macaroni and cheese and other ingredients, according to KDAF 23.
The team is also offering a pie stuffed with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce and a sandwich that includes smoked turkey, mac and cheese, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce and gravy.
To top it all off, the team will be serving chicken nuggets in the shape of stars.
But it might not all go down as easily for fans as they watch their team take the field during a forgettable season.
The fans won't be watching star quarterback Dak Prescott and will have to settle for backup Cooper Rush as they look to improve on a 4-7 start to the season.
Prescott underwent season-ending surgery, and Rush helped Dallas win its fourth game of the season against Washington Sunday. The Cowboys still need one more win to avoid their worst record in a season since 1989.
Prescott signed a four-year, $240 million contract — the most lucrative in NFL history — hours before the season opener against the Cleveland Browns Sept. 8. The team previously made wide receiver CeeDee Lamb the league's highest-paid player at the position with a new contract ahead of the season.
Despite all that money spent on offense, Prescott, statistically, was off to one of his worst starts passing. With eight interceptions in eight games, Prescott recorded the worst passer rating and second-worst interception percentage of his career in a single season.
And as the team has faltered, many around the NFL and sports media have used the Cowboys' failure as a springboard for comedy.
Former Broncos Super Bowl champion and current ESPN host Shannon Sharpe blasted the Cowboys in an episode of the "Nightcap" podcast.
"I would’ve left the stadium with a bag over my head. Ain’t no way you’ll see me leaving the stadium when I got beat like that. After I’ve gotten beat like that every game. … And you do this?" Sharpe said.
"It’s disrespectful. It’s disrespectful to the fans who pay their hard-earned money. But you know what, it couldn’t happen to a better franchise. Because all that owner do is run his mouth and talk about what they’re gonna do. … And all their players do, because they take it from the owner, is run their mouth — and they ain’t won dog crap. None of them."
Legendary former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning piled on during a bit while hosting the Country Music Awards recently.
Manning and CMA co-hosts Lainey Wilson and Luke Bryan made a reference to "Cowboys Cry Too," Kelsea Ballerini's hit song with Noah Kahan.
"But enough about Jerry Jones," Manning said.
The Cowboys have won their last two games on Thanksgiving and will be facing a Giants team that is 2-9 and could be in line to play its third quarterback of the season, Drew Lock.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Jameis Winston won't eat just anything, apparently.
The backup, whose career has been associated with food in the media after a college scandal involving allegedly stolen seafood and a heavier body build, revealed his distaste for mashed potatoes on Wednesday.
Winston said mashed potatoes is a dish that he doesn't even want people to bring to Thanksgiving, in an interview on the "BIG PLAY" podcast.
"I have this thing where, please don't bring mashed potatoes to Thanksgiving," Winston said, denying the notion that the dish is a "staple" of the Thanksgiving meal.
"I really don't think it's a staple, it's mashed potatoes," Winston said. "It's not a Thanksgiving meal… I would really just have a baked potato."
Winston's argument about mashed potatoes not being a Thanksgiving dish would be unfounded to some. But there is some historical contest to support his claim.
Mashed potatoes was not a dish at the first Thanksgiving at Plymoth Rock, Massachusetts, in 1621, according to multiple accounts. In fact, potatoes didn't even come to continental North America until settlers brought them to Virginia around the same time.
Potatoes originated in the Andean region of South America, specifically being domesticated by the Inca people, and were brought to North America by European settlers centuries after Christopher Columbus's famous voyage in 1492.
However, potatoes quickly became a common dish at Thanksgiving dinners in the 1860s.
The popular Civil War era journalist and author Josepha Hale campaigned for Congress to officially recognize Thanksgiving. She is considered the individual most responsible for the creation of the national holiday in the U.S. beyond New England, earning her the nickname "Mother of Thanksgiving."
Her writings frequently included mashed potatoes as a dish at the Thanksgiving dinner table, and the vast majority of American families have followed that precedent ever since.
A 2021 IPSOS survey found that mashed potatoes are the most common side dish at Thanksgiving feasts, with 77% of households including it.
Winston's suggestion of baked potatoes was not even included in the survey.
Winston previously revealed his top 10 favorite fast-food restaurants in a social media video in September – 1. Chick-fil-A 2. McDonald’s 3. Dunkin’ Donuts 4. Chipotle 5. Krispy Kreme 6. Papa John’s Pizza 7. Pizza Hut 8. Subway 9. Arby’s 10. Panda Express.
He declined to include chains like KFC or Popeyes, which are among the most popular fast-food restaurants to serve mashed potatoes.
Winston's taste in food has been the subject of coverage dating back to his Heisman college career at Florida State University. He was issued a civil citation for shoplifting on April 29, 2014, after allegedly walking out of a Tallahassee, Florida, supermarket without paying for $32 worth of crab legs and crawfish.
Winston denied the allegations in a statement the following April ahead of that year's NFL Draft, where he was taken with the No. 1 overall pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I went to the supermarket with the intent to purchase dinner but made a terrible mistake for which I'm taking full responsibility. In a moment of youthful ignorance, I walked out of the store without paying for one of my items," Winston said.
The White House turkey pardoning ceremony, a long-held Thanksgiving tradition formalized 77 years ago, traces its origins back decades further.
Since the 1800s, it has been customary for the sitting president to be gifted a turkey as a festive gesture, with several presidents hinting that the bird would be featured on their holiday menu.
However, in recent decades, sitting presidents launched a new tradition of "pardoning" the bird, essentially sparing its life and ensuring it will spend the remainder of its time on a farm.
The turkey is brought to Washington, D.C., during the week of Thanksgiving, gets a room at the five-star Willard Hotel and is eventually "pardoned" by the president. However, the history of exactly when the pardon began "gets tricky," as described by the Obama White House archives.
According to the George Bush national archives, former President Lincoln spared the life of the Thanksgiving turkey upon request from his son, Tad Lincoln.
The White House turkey was again spared in 1947, when former President Truman began an annual tradition of the animal being gifted by the National Turkey Federation.
However, the Truman Library and Museum said they have "found no documents, speeches, newspaper clippings, photographs, or other contemporary records in our holdings which refer to Truman pardoning a turkey that he received as a gift in 1947, or at any other time during his presidency."
In 1963, former President Kennedy also decided to spare the life of that year's Thanksgiving turkey, saying "we'll just let this one grow."
Former President Reagan did it informally during the ceremony in 1987. Reagan was asked by reporters about potentially pardoning individuals from the Iran-Contra affair, but he pointed at the turkey and said he would "pardon him" instead.
However, it wasn't until 1989 when former President George H. W. Bush officially presented the turkey with a presidential "pardon," an annual tradition that has been honored in the decades since.
"Let me assure you and this fine Tom Turkey that he will not end up on anyone's dinner table, not this guy. He's granted a presidential pardon as of right now and allow him to live out his days on a children's farm not far from here," Bush said in 1989.
Since Bush, every president has participated in the turkey pardoning ceremony as part of the White House Thanksgiving week celebration.
President Biden has been pardoning two turkeys for the last three years. He participated in the 77th annual turkey pardon on Monday, the last one of his presidency, sparing "Peach" and "Blossom" in the Rose Garden on the South Lawn of the White House.
"This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington. It's also my last time to speak here as your president during the season," Biden said during the ceremony. "It's been the honor of my life. I'm forever grateful that today my wife, Jill, and I will travel to Staten Island, New York, for a ‘friendsgiving’ with members of the Coast Guard and their families to demonstrate our gratitude for their service and sacrifice, like my son."
Some critics, such as animal rights group Farm Sanctuary, have called the tradition "little more than a photo op."
However, presidents and spectators have enjoyed the ceremony as a fun event for the holidays.
President Biden pardoned this year's national Thanksgiving turkeys "Peach" and "Blossom" on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday – the last time he will partake in the tradition in office.
Biden thanked John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation, and Zimmerman's son Grant for participating in the annual White House tradition.
The national turkey lobby first presented a turkey to President Truman in the 1940s for Thanksgiving, and President George H.W. Bush began the annual tradition of pardoning turkeys, Biden said.
Zimmerman has raised more than 4 million turkeys over his 35-year career, Biden noted. In the last four years, Biden has pardoned other national Thanksgiving turkeys, named "Peanut Butter" and "Jelly," "Chocolate" and "Chip," and "Liberty" and "Bell."
In his remarks, Biden said Zimmerman's family was from Northfield, Minnesota, which the president and his Agriculture Secretary Tim Vilsack visited last year with "our great friend, the Minnesota governor Tim Walz, talking about transforming rural America back in Minnesota." Walz ran unsuccessfully for the White House as vice president on the ticket with Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris, who was notably absent from Monday's turkey pardoning ceremony.
Biden did not mention Harris, who is reportedly keeping a low profile with close aides and family in Hawaii following her defeat by President-elect Trump.
The 82-year-old president did take the opportunity to give thanks for his term in office.
"This event marks the official start of the holiday season here in Washington. It's also my last time to speak here as your president during the season," Biden said. "And give thanks and gratitude. So let me say to you, it's been the honor of my life. I'm forever grateful that today my wife, Jill, and I will travel to Staten Island, New York, for a Friendsgiving with members of the Coast Guard and their families to demonstrate our gratitude for their service and sacrifice – like my son. We're also keeping our hearts to those who have lost so much who will have an empty seat at the Thanksgiving dinner table tonight, or excuse me, Thursday night."
"May we use this moment to take time from our busy lives, and focus on what matters most. Our families," Biden added. "In America, we never give up. We keep going. We keep the faith. Just remember who we are. We're the United States of America. There's nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. So happy Thanksgiving, America. God bless you all. And may God protect our troops."
