Everything You Need To Know About 2020's Pardoned Thanksgiving Turkey
By all accounts, the turkey was on his best behavior Tuesday on the White House lawn, during the ceremonial presidential pardon of the Thanksgiving Day bird. He gobbled happily for reporters, knowing that soon he'll be put out to pasture for retirement.
We're talking about Corn, of course. That's the name of the 42-pound bird who was the lucky recipient of the pardon, meaning he won't be on anyone's dinner table this Thursday (via The New York Times). It's probably for the best. The turkey cooking-time calculator at Straight Health estimates it would take more than eight hours to cook that bird.
Corn wasn't merely lucky, either. He won a poll conducted on the White House's Twitter account that had Corn squaring off against his 41-pound flockmate Cob. After nearly 65,000 votes, Corn won the poll, 53.7 percent to 46.3 percent.
In this election, at least, both parties ended up winners. President Trump pardoned both birds, The New York Times reported. One day later, news broke in the Times that Trump also pardoned Michael Flynn, (a human) who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
The loser of the 2018 turkey poll refused to concede
More pardons of the human variety are expected between now and the time Trump leaves office. A reporter called out to Trump at the conclusion of the turkey-pardoning ceremony, "Will you be issuing a pardon for yourself?" Trump didn't respond. But in 2018, Trump did have something to say about the self-pardon. "I have the absolute right to PARDON myself," Trump tweeted at the time (via The Washington Post). "But why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"
President Trump had to help the loser of the presidential-pardon turkey poll in 2018 with a harsh dose of reality. That year, a turkey named Peas had beaten out Carrots in what Trump called a "fair election" (via YouTube). "Unfortunately, Carrots refused to concede and demanded a recount," Trump went on to say. "Carrots, I'm sorry to tell you, the result did not change."
Corn and Cob are both headed for Gobblers Rest, a sort of retirement village for presidential turkeys on the campus of Virginia Tech (via NPR). A good guess puts Trump, who is near retirement himself, on a golf course at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, starting Jan. 20.