Sound On: Fed's Inflation Fight, Air & Space Museum Reopening

The tuber Sloomberg sound on politics, policy and perspective from DC's top names based on their temperament and commitment to being productive members of society. I hear by pardon, I hear by car Yes, I hear by pardon chocolate that Chip Floomberg Sound On with Joe Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. So fifty basis points, it shall be welcome to the

fastest hour in politics. With a final helping of economic data before Thanksgiving and minutes from the last FED meeting that points a moderation, we'll speak with Bloomberg Economics editor Michael McKee about the fight against inflation and what it means for holiday spending. Later countdown of the runoff, with more money piling into Georgia, the second woman to accuse herschel Walker of pressuring her into having an abortion comes

forward with new claims. Well at the latest on the race, an analysis from our signature panel Bloomberg Politics contributors Gene Chanzano and Rick Davis are here, and later a special conversation with Christopher Brown, director of the newly reopened National Errand Space Museum in Washington. We had for a more

expensive Thanksgiving dinner this year. Inflation remains arguably the biggest story in America right supported by data out just today, and it of course takes on new meaning as we had for the holiday season when life is already more expensive, and so while backward looking, the FED minutes released today were scrutinized for clues in the future policy and whether the hikes already made are actually having any impact. And joining us to talk about it is Michael McKee, Bloomberg

Economics editor, who's in town for the FED released today. Michael, welcome back, lovely to be here. You quoted this morning on television. As I'm watching Bloomberg TV, you quoted the great John Hannibal Smith of the eight Team. I love it when a plan comes together, Yes, and of course in this case complete with soundtrack music. The Fed. J. Powell loves it when a plan comes together. What are you reading in the tea leaves here or now that

the minutes are up? Well, they asked me what the Fed is thankful for this Thanksgiving, and it's that their plan is coming together. They've been raising great significantly and inflation has started to come down, Unemployment has barely moved, and growth in the fourth quarter is picking up. The Atlanta Fed GDP now has US at a four point three percent, which is more than double what you would think would be UH the trend. So it all looks

good at this point in time. I don't want to say it's gonna last, but if you're J. Pow, you know you've got something to be thankful for. UH fifty basis points. We're done with the jumbo hikes. That's that's one part of that was the conclusion in the minutes, and they were very UH strong on that. They said almost all UH participants agreed that it was time to

slow UM the pace of rate increases. They didn't put a number on it, but we've heard from them sits that they're talking fifty, so I would expect that fifty basis points and then is there any potential for a slowdown next year if people start talking more about the lags and the possible recession. They did talk about one of the reasons they wanted to slow things down was

the lags. They don't know exactly when the full force of the tightening is going to hit the economy and how fast it's going to bring down inflation, and so if they move more slowly, they have more time to take a look around see what's happening in the economy instead of raising continue to raise rates at like a basis point uh pace and having that end up being too fast and going too far. Well, so, speaking of

I love it when a plan comes together. If you look at some of the data out this morning, consumer sentiment in particular declines. I guess it was less than expected, which is good, but still lower. From the University of Michigan of consumers say inflation is eroding their buying power, and even higher income consumers we're complaining to researchers here in the survey saying that it was lowering their living standards. Yeah, I'm surprised that the numbers aren't higher. Well, it was

the worst. This is the apparently higher income consumers reporting worst personal finances than lower income consumers for only the second time in the survey's history. Is there a trend there that speaks to Uh? What it tells you is what the Fed already knows that people really hate inflation. It's interesting because you will see with higher unemployment that the wealthy don't lose their jobs, and so they're less

concerned about that. But everybody gets hit by inflation, and so it is a major issue, and it can get out of control, as we saw in the nineteen seventies and eighties. Now there a lot of people who say that's not going to happen again, that dynamics have changed a lot. But the idea that interest rates may have to go higher because people start building inflation into their calculations is the bottom line of what the Feds afraid of.

So the University of Michigan study today also showed that people's inflation expectations over five years had come down a little bit. Uh and UH the current inflation expectations were about the same, So they seem to have that at the moment under control. It's incredible when you consider the impact that energy prices has have had on this whole

conversation oil and gas. We're looking at three dollars from what I understand, three dollars and fifty seven cent average today going into the Thanksgiving travel holiday, which was to the penny what we were paying on February five, the

day after Russia invaded Ukraine. So when you go back to the eighth of March, when Joe Biden said this, I'm gonna do everything I can to minimize prudence price hyke here at home, in coordination with our partners, we've already announced that we're releasing sixty million barrels the big relief from our jointropr We're right back to where we were the day this thing started. So there is no

more putent price hyke at the moment. There is not coming up on December five, European theory stops buying Russian oil. Uh in theory, that should have an impact on the price, but we don't know exactly what's going to happen. Joe Biden gets credit for bringing down gasolene prices because he's the president, but it really is more so tell our listens, okay. So as opposed to the spr releases, and of course we have to refill the spr at some point here.

These are global economic factors driving the price. Yeah, I mean, gasoline is a worldwide commodity, and demand plays as much of her role in the price as it does for anything else. And demand fell during the COVID crisis, and it rose sharply immediately afterwards, which put pressure on refiners.

UM oil didn't go away, but refiners had less capacity because they shut down during the pandemic, and they couldn't make as much gasoline out of the oil, and so they started running their refineries at higher capacity and bringing more gasoline to market. The price that everybody quotes when they're talking about oil is a futures price. The traders, people who trade contracts for oil, actually, uh, they're betting on whether they go up or down. It's not what

the oil companies are or the refiners are paying. They're they're paying less than that. So they're able to bring down the price. And there's enough gasoline and oil now that people think we can make it through the winter at time of less demand for gasoline, and China with more COVID problems is demanding less gasoline, so it looks like a good bet for until China reopens until China different and we'll see what happens then. So we go into the new year here, I hope the holidays are lovely.

We start the new year, and what trends are you looking for as potential early indicators for a recessions at the housing market. What's the first to drop? Well, the housing market and autos are usually the first to drop

because they're the most interest rate sensitive. The auto market has been so disrupted by the pandemic that it's hard to get a clean read on that because there were no cars available, so of course prices go up there and the fact that you have to pay more to buy a car became less important than the fact that there wasn't a car to buy. Now there's more inventory coming on, we'll see that how that impacts people. That's going to be somewhat offset by this delayed demand that

wasn't able to be filled. So you look at the housing market and markets work. They worked to clear, and we've seen in the last couple of weeks morgan rates come down a little, even though the FED has been raising rates because they get too high and nobody wants to buy house, and the people whose business it is to sell house. Are are looking for ways to entice people in. But I think what you really want to

watch is unemployment. That's what the FED is going to be watching because if demand is slowing as they think it should, then companies aren't going to need as many workers to produce as much stuff since we're not buying as much, and you may see, uh, the unemployment rates start to rise once again. It's confused by the pandemic because we had so many people who didn't come back into the labor force when the pandemic was over and

companies started hiring. That we don't know if companies want to let people go or not because they had such a hard time finding them. So what I'm looking for is whatever clues I can find, because it's it's gonna be hard to untangle a lot of this stuff and figure out where we're going. Absolutely so it's possible possible

to to beat inflation without destroying the job market. It may be true this time that you can, uh, you know, you're gonna see the unemployment rate go off a little bit, but the FED thinks it's below where it should be anyway, So how much damage is really going to be the question. Fascinating conversation with apologies to Hannibal. I love it when a plan comes to kinda. I hope you have a

great Thanksgiving. Thank you. J Yeah, the eight team right here on Bloomberg Sound On as you would expect, not just Mike McKee, but the best panel in the business. We're gonna turn this over to Rick Davis and Jennie Chantano coming up. And I hope Michael that you have a great Thanksgiving. Indeed, thanks for being with us. I'm

Joe Matthew in Washington. We'll check traffic and markets for you on the way, and later this hour we're gonna bring it to Georgia to find out what's happening in the run off your fresh numbers, the first real poll that we have seen in the race between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. And later on we'll also have a special conversation with Christopher Brown, the Air and Space Museum's executive director of former top gun pilot who just unlocked

the doors, opened the doors after a massive renovation. Stay with us. I'm Joe Matthew, This is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg sond On with Joe Matthew, on Bloomberg Radio. So how do you feel about Chef boy r D this Thanksgiving? Indeed, if you want to know how much it's gonna cost, they do the story every year. The Farm Bureau is the like the arbiter of Thanksgiving Costs. Thirty seventh annual survey by the Farm Bureau giving us a snapshot of

the average cost of this year's classic Thanksgiving feast for ten. Okay, now imagine a world in which these numbers applied to your table. But it's all about, uh, the relativity here correct feast for ten sixty four dollars and five cents. That is increase from last year's average of fifty three dollars and one cents. The biggest cost, of course, the turkey. That's twenty eight dollars ninety six, they say for a

sixteen pound bird, up from last year. So expensive that Senator Joni Ernst, the Republican senator part of the leadership, was compelled to go to the Senate floor with a massive prop massive can of Chef boy r D to make a point. The chairman of the Democrats Congressional Campaign Committee said, families struggling with these rising prices should eat chef boy r D. That's what he said. We'll get to that in a minute. If that is the Democrat solution, holds it up in front of the floor. Boy are

we cooked? Chef Boyard? No, Chef boy are we cooked? Was that worth the trouble? She was responding, by the way, a referring to Sean Patrick Maloney, who lost his re election, the New York Democrat, who referred to his own life experience when asked on Fox about inflation. Yeah, well, I grew up in a family where, you know, if the if the gas price went up, the food budget went down. So by this time of the week, we've beaten chef Boyard if if that budget wasn't going to change, right,

So that's what families have to do. That went viral and it was twisted into him telling people telling families to just have chef boy r D, which incidentally is the favorite of something. Let's go back to the good that assemble the panel. Rick Davis is back, and so is Jennie Chanzano Bloomberg Politics contributors. Rick your back state side, So I say welcome and happy Thanksgiving in advance to both of you here. Inflation as a political issue, Rick

can last another year or so. How long before the Fed breaks the back of higher prices can Republicans hang this around Joe Biden's neck. Well, I think it'll depend upon how quickly they can, you know, get ahead of it. I mean, we've seen these attempts at trying to rein in inflation. Uh, you know, maybe there's some indications of positive outcome right now, but that doesn't necessarily last through the year. So right now, it's uh, you know, exactly

what you were talking about earlier. It's for foremost on everybody's mind and until at which point in time other issues start to challenge that this is going to be something that Republicans are gonna talk a lot about. Yeah, they say the kids love the chef boy r D Genie,

they do. I don't know why everybody is picking on Chef boy r D. I'm gonna stand up for them right now, Joe Matthew and you know, there's not thing wrong with a little check, but look, this is it's getting to the point where it's a joke on the floor of the Senate. How long can that last? When

when j Powell is up to what he's doing. Obviously we just had a long talk with Michael McKee about it, and there's a recession, of potential recession looming with prices that that could be looking a lot different a year from them. Yeah, I mean, I think Republicans will keep it up. Um. The reality is it's going to depend an awful lot on how the FED handles this. There's not an awful lot that the administration itself can do.

And you know, I was feeling very comforted listening all day to Mike McKee talk about, you know, the good news, and it seems to be good news. But then I looked back like a week or two, and you have many economists saying that the FED has to be careful about not doing enough, and in fact looking back at history and saying there's a danger when the FED doesn't do enough um and so you know, very little danger when they do too much and to get down to where they say they want to be in terms of

inflation at this two percent target. So you know, I think the big question here is what does the FED do? And you know, Janie Ernest, when you're playing that, I'm thinking back to her commercial with the what was it the pigs the wild hogs that this goes back. I'm you know, six years or so. But you know, so she has the capacity to get some food on her table without I guess this is this is why I

wanted to bring this up. But look, you know, in another year or so, of course, prices could be down for the wrong reason here, Rick, But you keep moving forward into the race for four and we could be in a world in which the economy is staging a nice recovery. Could Could it be like the second term that Ronald Reagan enjoyed? It can Can Joe Biden be that candidate if the economy comes back to life and time. He's got a long way to go before Reagan eighty

four in America. We're holding our breath against morning in America at this point. It's not going to be a landslide obviously like that. But in terms of his own his own image, yeah, well look, I mean he's gonna I think a great deal of his image is going to rest on the success of an economic plan, because what comes after an unsuccessful hemming in on inflation is going to be recession. And I still don't think there are that many people thinking we're not going to you know,

passed by a recession. And so the question is how deep and how long does that last? And I think that's going to define probably at least the next six to twelve months of his second half of his term. So, you know, I think, you know, getting too far ahead of everybody on on you know, inflation running its course and avoiding a recession. I think Joe Biden's got a long way to go before people look at his administration as being anything other than less than successful. Rick Davis

and Genie Chanzano. This day before Thanksgiving there here for the hour. We have a lot more to talk about as we tackle the race in Georgia. Coming up with some breaking news there today as Jane Doe emerges in front of cameras and microphones with new evidence against herschel Walker. We'll check in on the runoff of the panel next.

I'm Joe Matthew. This is Bloomberg. So it's the first big poll out since the general election, since the actual mid term election, day before we even knew that Georgia was going to a run office from the A A R P. And it does show Raphael Warnock, the Democratic Senator, the incumbent, holding ahead of Republican herschel Walker, but not via a lot that of course, would be within the margin of error here. And while it does look pretty good for Senator Warnock, when it comes to independent voters,

the campaigning continues. Imagine somebody coming to your office and they want a job, and they submit to you a resume, and every single thing on the resume is a lie everything, and yet they want you to hire him for a job. Well, that's what herschel Walker is doing. Dan. He said, to be a senator, you have to know something. Well, what I do know is you haven't done a good job. Let's several of the panel. Rick Davis and Jennie Schanzano

are here, are Bloomberg Politics contributors. What's going on in Georgia here? Rick, As we get closer to this race, and and I'd love your reaction to these polling numbers, is it going to become harder for herschel Walker to get the turnout or is Brian Kemp going to make the difference for him? Well, I think you've hit the nail on ahead. Brian Kemp is going to make the difference for him one way or another, right, I mean, you know they were basically uh it was a very

close election. I think we're not goingly got about thirty five thousand more votes than herschel Walker. So this was a close attempt at the first go round. It's just that nobody got to fifty one. Uh. Camp himself got two hundred thousand votes that voted for him and did not vote for herschel Walker. So when you look at that pool of potential that if Kemp could turn out fifty thousand of those votes, um, you know for Walker,

it's a game changer for this election. And from what I can tell, you know, my sources on the ground, uh you know, uh, Kemp is all in. He's been campaigning. He's gonna put an ad up right on Thanksgiving Day, endorsing herschel Walker and going after Warnock and his voting record against Joe Biden, who is not a popular president in Georgia. And and my understanding too is they know all this and the camp are in the camp folks are really trying to turn out in the districts that

they did. Well, you know, some of those two hundred thousand votes that otherwise herschel Walker didn't get. With all this said, Gennie does a four point lead count in this poll for Raphael Warnock. You know, it's within the margins, so I think we have to assume that it's still a toss up. This is one poll. It's it's by a reputable uh you know, posters Um for the A A r P, as you mentioned, But it's still within the margins. So we're still looking at the toss up.

And while you know Walker has Kemp on his side, you also see Barack Obama going down for Warnock, and so that should get out the vote. And you know, we have to also look at what we've seen just

in the mid term a few weeks ago. Character matters, and we have seen just in the last few days several questions about Walker's character, everything from this second woman who came forward with these claims of an abortion, to the fact that we're learning just the last few hours that he's getting a tax breaks on a Texas home that he listed as his primary residence in as a candidate for the Georgia Senate, to the fact that he

keeps making missteps and speaking publicly. The latest one on Fox which went viral and was quite funny, but I won't even dare to repeat it because it's not. It'll be the cold Open on SNL this weekend. We don't even need to do it. What I Am going to point you to is though this news conference in l

A today with Gloria Alread and whether this matters. This is the second woman to allege she was pressured into having an abortion by Herschel Walker goes as Jane Doe sitting right next to the the famous Gloria Already who's who, addresses the cameras and microphones holding a photo of Jane

Doe and Herschel Walker together. Today we are here to challenge her for Walker to meet with our client, Jane Doe, the woman that he said recently he did not know even though he had a romantic relationship with her for six years. Six years. She talks about the three flights of stairs he used to walk up to visit her in her apartment and then of course got emotion. He spoke about threats to me and the baby if I

went through with pregnancy. Quote. I wanted to just go home, and he kept saying they would still find out and that they could quote have his heart unquote by threatening me in the baby. Reading from her personal diary, she brought unseen letters and audio recording. It's rick We've we've heard similar about herschel Walker didn't even move the numbers. In fact, some could argue that had helped him somehow during the general election campaign. Is this going to matter

in the runoff? You know, look, I think we got to look at history in history, the these allegations and and and discussions, not just with this Jane Doe, but another woman who had a relationship with herschel Walker didn't seem to have an impact. Maybe it kept him at his Maybe his high is forty seven percent. And maybe that's why because you know, a lot of voters in

Georgia care about the abortion issue. It's clear that Democrats are gonna prosecute the abortion issue, not just as it relates to his own personal life, but also his uh stance on abortion in general. But look, this is a guy who, you know, people attacked his mental health, they attacked his domestic violence record, they attacked his thinking that he was a sheriff when he wasn't, and and and and so you know, it's not like you haven't vetted

this guy. And that's what's interesting about these kinds of elections. You've got two weeks to prosecute this and what is new here? Um not a lot? And so is that

going to really make a difference in this election? What do you think about this latest turn, this latest update from Jane Doe Jan, I think it's just another in a long line of questions about whether people in Georgia, voters who will get out another time in just a few weeks, think that herschel Walker has qualified either personally or professionally to be a Georgia Senator to represent them

in the U. S. Senate. And whether you're talking about this woman's allegations, the other woman's allegations, the constant misstatements, the you know, statements on now his tax records about where his primary residence is, those things all come into play. And of course who's going to get out in this And it's not going to decide the Senate leadership or the Senate who's in control. It's going to be the

most interested in people who are paying attention. And that may make a difference here, and so I would still give the slight edge to Warnock, but it's going to be a battle to get out the vote from people who are exhausted by this you know, I was thinking about Warnocks commercial. If we don't decide this in the mid term, we're gonna have to spend you know, Thanksgiving with herschel Walker here. We are, here, we are, So can we at least put this all down for Thanksgiving?

I know we'll be back to it probably on Friday when everyone's punching each other at the best Buy or the Walmart or whatever they do on Black Friday. If we still do that, But let's put it down for a day and let me thank you Genie and let me thank you Rick for being the best panel in the business and always providing such wonderful analysis and companionship for all of our listeners going home. So cheers to you two, and thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. Absolutely Bloomberg Politics contributors,

they make our signature panel. I'm Joe Matthew and Washington and something special ahead. We're gonna visit the National Air and Space Museum and talk to their new relatively new director, Christopher Brown, a former top gun pilot, and it's in charge of reimaging the whole thing. Half of it just reopen and we get a sneak peak next. I'm Joe Matthew, this is Bloomberg. This is Bloomberg. So long with Joe

Matthew on Bloomberg Radio. So, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the Nash Hittle Mall is just reopened, having been totally shut down from massive renovations for months. About half the job is done now with new exhibits and an emphasis on diverse voices that have helped to advance

air and space exploration. I was lucky to sit down with Christopher Brown, the Air and Space Museum's executive director of former top gun pilot, former director of Dulles Airport and Reagan National Airport here in Washington, d C. To learn more about the project and get an up close look at the job underway. Well, I think the bigger task, quite frankly, is re envisioning this national treasure for the future. I mean, it's we know it's impact. You've just said

that it's influenced you. I came here in nineteen seventy seven, a year after SO opening. I was nineteen years old, and I was really struck by the d C three above us because that was an aircraft I had flown in as a small child, and so I made that connection and that that led to my professional life and aviation. So we know the power of the place. Not as scary as landing at night on a ship, but very

very important. The level of stress might be approaching that. Uh. It's interesting to think that this wing has been closed since before COVID. You said when it reopened recently. The real measure of success will be when visitors return home

and say, you must see this. Is that already happening. Absolutely, we're getting about five thousand visitors a day, and we've had really good feedback both through the media and through our visitors, and I think part of it is because it's forty almost the artifacts in the museum today are here for the first time, and we're able to expand the storytelling in a way that The other measure of success is we we hope that everybody coming into this museum,

however they present, whatever they look like, wherever they come from, they will be able to see themselves in the stories and the artifacts, just as I did in It's not lost on me that one of the big talkers here is this Xing fighter from the Star Wars movies. Obviously, it is not an operational aircraft or or a piece of history the way some of these other exhibits are. But it speaks to the vision that you have in

connecting fantasy with innovation. What's that lesson for young people? Well, it starts with an idea and that there's that moment of inspiration and it can come any number of ways. So for instance, if you go into our Destination Moon gallery or tell the Story of Apollo, you'll see games and some of the things that the young astronauts were influenced by his children. So we know the iconic value or the influential value of these artifacts. And I've taken

some heat for the X Wings. People said it's never flown, it's why is it near in space Museum? And I I remind folks, I said, well, we have six thousand paintings that never flew. So it's really a question of meeting our audiences where they are. What is it that connects to them, that resonates, and we know that the power of the X Wing fighter does that for a

lot of our audience. Well, you've got a lot of competition for eyeballs and and interest, right you you're trying to appeal to kids who are on TikTok and social media, and have the attention span of a ten second video. So I'm guessing this actually helps the bridge that divide. It does, and I think that what we really hold dear at the Smithsonian and certainly here at this museum, is a commitment to authenticity and accuracy, so that when you come here, whether it's in person or virtually, this

is the real deal. And so sometimes some of the other media and influencers in our lives can't lay that claim, and so it's really important that we hold it at because it's not just the artifacts and the and how real they are and authentic, it's the stories, the people's stories behind them. There are amazing stories all around us, including that of the Apollo mission. The Apollo eleven capsule is something that reminds us of the harsh environment that is space as you and I sit here and Orion

Space capsule is orbiting the Moon. How much do current events drive your vision for the museum? Well, very much, so, I mean very Folks often think of museums having a retrospective look, and so it begs the question why is why do we have a gallery dedicated to the Apollo missions? What's its relevance? The why and other than the fact that it was just an amazing story. You know, the President just a few months ago, I think, used the term moonshot, So what is moonshot me into a generation

today that was not alive during Apollo. Most of the people coming into that gallery today will not have been alive to see the launches of the Saturn fives and the Apollo era. And I think the relevance and the reason we tell that Apollo story really gets down to four elements. One is, you know, to take on a big challenge and to solve problems, you need a strong vision.

Certainly Kennedy articulated that you need a commitment of national resource fousand American it's millions of dollars working on that project. You need a tolerance for risk, You have to be willing to take chances. And then you have to have that human ingenuity that I think is often underestimated. And when you put those things together, what the Apollo missions demonstrated, you can do incredible things. So fast forward, how does that play out with climate change and curing cancer and

some of these seemingly intractable problems. I walked through that gallery and say, no, we can sell problems a seven year project I believe in total, Yes, this is a huge undertaking. Does it have a price tag? It does. This is an investment both by the citizens of this country. Their taxes have paid for seven nine million dollars of rebuilding this building, but importantly, the actual galleries, the look and feel like this gallery is financed privately and through

our corporate and individual benefactors. I'm compelled by your personal story or career year fifteen traps more than fifteen hundred hours flying the F fourteen Tomcat, this iconic fighter plane. You went on to be the manager of Dullest Airport, Reagan National Airport, the director here at the Air and Space Museum. But you've said in conversations that in flight school you experienced something called I believe it's a flight down.

Oh yeah, absolutely, that you actually failed the equivalent of a certain exercise that you needed to pass in your training. I just wonder how much that influenced your approach to your career or your trajectory after that. Well, it's very humbling to be told that you failed in something you've

worked hard at. But I think what it does is it's a real test of character to decide you know how invested are you in what it is you're doing, And just with Exploration with Apollo, with all these stories, there was failure along the way, and you learn from

your failures. It's always important not to repeat the failures, but to learn from them, but to think that we're gonna do incredible things, either at a level like this museum, land a person on the moon, or in my case, learn to fly on aircraft on and off a carrier. Failure is part of that process. Big thanks to Christopher Brown, director of the Air and Space Museum here in Washington, which you must see now that it's beginning to reopen.

And on this day before the holiday, with National Thanksgiving Turkey's chocolate and chip having been pardoned by President Biden, we remember the White House tradition that dates back to President John Kennedy, the great Turkey pardon you know as the University of Delaware, man, I'm partial Blue Hens. Today we're gonna talk turkey. I never promised you God. This turkey represents America's forty five million to piece who will

begin making their irreplaceable contribution to our Thanksgiving celebration. So take it easy, Turkey. We're just here to serve you. Our guest of honor looks a little nervous. Nobody's tolding yet that I'm going to give him a pardoner. I know some folks think this tradition is a little silly. I do not disagree. I've got to listen to my critics,

UH say I'm often too soft on turkeys. I am pleased to announce that today's lucky bird and guests of Anna is named Peas, along with his alternate named Carrots. The children will understand that who better help celebrate the holiday in which they break the bread for two turkeys name peanut, butter and Jelly. This turkey is going to be called Flyer, and the backup verde name is Friar.

This year's lucky bird corn, and just in case we needed him copy, this year's national turkey goes by the name of Apple, and his feathered understudy is appropriately named Cider. Even though Peas and Carrots have received a presidential pardon, I have warned them that House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas totis the turkey of the United States. Folks, Turkey is infrastructure. Peanut Brutter and Dreill are gonna help

build black the butter ball. As Thanksgiving is a special day for turkeys, I guess, probably for the most part, not a very good one when you think about it. The first turkey to dodge the White House dinner table received unofficial clemency when President abrah Am Lincoln's son Tad begged his father to spare his new friend. His son, Tad grew so attached to the turkey that he named him Jack, and President Lincoln had no choice but to give Jack the full run of the White House. Jack

was here actually for some monumental events. On election Day in eighteen sixty four, when Mr Lincoln was running for re election, a special polling place was actually set up right here on the grounds of the White House so that the soldiers could vote well. Jack the turkey actually strutted in front of some of the would be voters the broken line. Lincoln asked his son, why is your turkey at the polls? Does he vote without hesitation? Tad

said he's not old enough yet. Tomorrow, forty five million turkeys will make the ultimate sacrifice for America's feast, but not this one. I'm granting this turkey a permanent reprieve. After many years and the coop. He's on his way to a farm and ViRGE Enya to bask in the sun, collect his hard earned pension, enjoy his golden years. And that's one less Turkey in Washington. Happy Thanksgiving,