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Joe Biden pardons his last turkeys

President Joe Biden with the chair of the National Turkey Federation, John Zimmerman, and Zimmerman’s son Grant on Monday at the White House. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
President Joe Biden with the chair of the National Turkey Federation, John Zimmerman, and Zimmerman’s son Grant on Monday at the White House. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
By Kara Voght Washington Post

“They tell me 2,500 people are here, looking for a pardon!”

President Joe Biden raised his hand to his brow and squinted out at the crowd on the White House’s South Lawn Monday morning. Everyone laughed. It was a joke, right? The rows of chairs closest to the president were stuffed with Biden loyalists: Cabinet members, political appointees, staff, friends – maybe the sort of people whom President-elect Donald Trump might seek retribution against?

In the end, only a pair of turkeys, Peach and Blossom, walked free. They are the last turkeys who will be pardoned by the 46th president, and they will “join the free birds of the United States of America,” Biden said. Peach, standing on a platform to the president’s right, released an ecstatic gobble.

The birds were raised by National Turkey Federation Chairman John Zimmerman on a farm in Northfield, Minnesota. Zimmerman and his 9-year-old son, Grant, were on hand, as was Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, less than three weeks removed from his star turn as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. This would be the closest Walz gets to the White House, at least for now.

The turkeys were named for the state flower of Delaware. One imagines this is the last we’ll hear about Delaware for a while.

The president recited the birds’ biographies. Peach, 41 pounds, loves Minnesota hot dish and cross-country skiing (prove it, Zimmerman). Blossom, 40 pounds, enjoys cheese curds and lives by the motto “no fowl play,” Biden noted. The turkeys will return to Minnesota and live out their lives at Farmamerica, an “agricultural interpretive center” in Waseca, Minnesota, where we are told they will “inspire the next generation of agricultural students.”

Then, Biden set the jokes aside. “It’s also my last time to speak here as your president during the season and give thanks and gratitude.” Serving as president has been “the honor of my life,” he said. “I’m forever grateful.”

The president lowered his heavy lids toward Peach, who stared back from its own puckered face. It briefly flared its feathers, then gave a hearty shake. The turkey will leave the White House today, and Biden will follow in January, perhaps, also, to greener pastures.