Trump gives Thanksgiving turkeys scathing nicknames and calls Pritzker a ‘fat slob’ in fiery White House holiday speech
Donald Trump pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys, Gobble and Waddle, in keeping with decades-old tradition.
The president joked that he wanted to name them ‘Chuck and Nancy’ after Senate Minority Leader Schumer and former House Speaker Pelosi, but said he couldn’t do that because he would never forgive any of his Democratic foes.
“When I first saw their photos, I was going to call them Chuck and Nancy,” Trump recalled. But then I realized I wouldn’t forgive them. ‘I will never forgive these two people.’
Trump said last year’s pardons were invalid because of Joe Biden’s autobiography, sparking much cheer among the audience, which included senior cabinet officials such as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
However, the president said not to worry because he found Blossom and Peach on their way to the massacre, saved them, and granted amnesty to them both.
He wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers when he accused Illinois Governor JB Pritzker of being a ‘big, fat slob,’ but then self-deprecatingly admitted: ‘I’d like to lose a few pounds too.’
The president attacked the Democratic governor and expressed his anger at a “beautiful woman” who was set on fire on a train in Chicago by a career criminal with 72 arrests to his name. Trump and Pritzker have frequently clashed over crimes in the state after the governor refused to have the president deploy the National Guard.
Trump took the opportunity in front of the microphone and an attentive audience to outline the accomplishments of his second term, including tough-on-crime policies, a crackdown on illegal immigration and helping negotiate an end to multiple wars.
He was joined in the Rose Garden by First Lady Melania Trump, who wore a leather aviator-style bomber jacket, black turtleneck and brown herringbone skirt for the ceremony.
First Lady Melania Trump watches as President Donald Trump pardons Gobble, the official National Thanksgiving turkey, during a turkey pardon ceremony at the White House on November 25, 2025
From left, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attended Trump’s turkey pardon
Trump pardons National Thanksgiving Turkey Gobble with First Lady Melania Trump
US Vice President JD Vance holds his Mirabel with Second Lady Usha Vance
Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance bring their daughter Mirabel to the turkey pardon at the White House on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. Their sons were not seen at the ceremony
Karoline Leavitt and her one-year-old son Nicholas met Waddle in the White House press briefing room before the turkey pardon ceremony and introduced the alternative turkey to the press.
Gobble, who received the pardon at a ceremony with the president, was chosen as the National Thanksgiving Turkey, but Waddle also received a pardon, as is tradition.
Trump said Gobble and Waddle, who were named in the survey conducted on the First Lady’s X account, were Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He said that it was approved by MAHA.
“Despite their size, Secretary Kennedy has officially certified these as MAHA’s first turkeys,” Trump said with a chuckle.
“They may be fat, but they’re still MAHAs,” Trump insisted.
The president later patted himself on the back for refraining from making the joke he had prepared in his comments about the chubby Chicago Mayor.
“I made a little Pritzker joke,” Trump said. ‘I was going to talk about Pritzker and his greatness. But I get angry when I talk about Pritzker… so I won’t tell my Pritzker joke.’
‘Some speechwriters wrote jokes about his weight but I never want to talk about his weight. “I’m not talking about people being fat,” he said. ‘I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob.’
Trump later admitted: ‘In the meantime, I’d like to lose a few pounds too. And I won’t lose it on Thanksgiving, let me tell you that.’
“I’m going to eat a turkey, but it won’t be a turkey,” he said, pointing at Gobble.
First Lady Melania Trump watches her husband pardon Gobble
Trump was joined by Melania, who wore a leather aviator-style bomber jacket, black turtleneck and brown houndstooth skirt
Before the pardon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brought Waddle into the press briefing room with her one-year-old son, Nicholas, to present the turkey to reporters.
Trump boasted that Gobble and Waddle were the largest turkeys ever presented to a president at a pardon ceremony.
Both 50-pound turkeys will be retired to North Carolina State University’s Prestage Department of Poultry Science in Raleigh, North Carolina, where they will receive housing and veterinary care for the rest of their lives.
Gobble and Waddle are males bred by Ronnie Parker, president of the Turkish National Federation, on his farm in Goldsboro, NC. Gobble is 52 pounds and Waddle is 50.
The roots of the Türkiye pardon date back to Abraham Lincoln, but it did not become an official executive duty until 1989, when George H. W. Bush announced a presidential pardon for the National Thanksgiving Turkey.
In addition to Bondi and Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were also seen in the front rows of the audience.
Vice President J.D. Vance was also there, and he was joined by Second Lady Usha Vance and their daughter Mirabel.
Pam Bondi lost it while Trump was making jokes with Pete Hegseth at the Türkiye Pardon ceremony
Trump and Melania go to pardon ceremony
House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and her son Niko welcome Waddle, the National Thanksgiving turkey alternative, to the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House
