Since 2009 Obama has performed the traditional pardoning of the national Thanksgiving turkey while his daughters have humoured him and his terrible puns, with expressions betraying amusement, bemusement and boredom. And for White House staff, plunged into tearful despair by the election result, it was nine minutes of daft escapism. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Obama and his nephews pet Tot the national Thanksgiving turkey. The turkeys had stayed at the prestigious Willard Intercontinental Hotel near the White House on Tuesday night. George H W Bush was the first president to formally pardon a Thanksgiving turkey, though tales of spared turkeys go back to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency.

Source: The Guardian November 23, 2016 22:40 UTC