‘Trump Pardons Himself Instead of Turkey’ Joke Made for Billionth Time

On Monday, Allison Young became the one billionth person to jokingly insinuate that “Trump might pardon himself instead of a turkey this Thanksgiving” during a work meeting. Anonymous sources in the meeting said that Young’s comments elicited at least one chuckle and several nods of acknowledgment.

“Ugh, Trump is probably going to name the turkey Donald J. Trump and then pardon it to get himself out of trouble,” she said breathlessly, paraphrasing an uncredited Twitter screengrab she saw on Facebook earlier that day.

The “joke” that Trump might pardon himself, a legally dubious claim, has been around since at May of 2017 when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey for investigating Russian collusion in the 2016 general election. Since then, the quip has been used to bring levity when Trump scandals have undermined democracy like using campaign funds to cover up an affair or when he was impeached for pressuring Ukraine to influence our election.

Young, who is notorious for commenting “STEALING THIS” or “MAKE SHAREABLE”, likes to think of herself as a comedy connoisseur as she is constantly rewatching and quoting the American version of “The Office”.