President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s belongings will be quickly removed from the White House for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, but one thing that will remain with them will almost certainly not be replaced. Well, it’s a White House pet.
Unlike the British Prime Minister’s Office, there is no “Chief Mouse” in the Office of the President, who holds office across administrations.
That’s because in America, presidents come and go, and their pets always come and go. When the Biden administration’s term ends on January 20, one remaining pet — a tabby domestic shorthair named Willow after Jill Biden’s hometown of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania — will be gone. Suddenly, there is no cat or dog activity in the mansion. Of the three German Shepherd dogs owned by Biden, one (Champ) died in 2021, and two (Major and Commander) were involved in multiple bite incidents that injured staffers and Secret Service agents. He was expelled from the White House due to this incident.
President Harry Truman once famously said that the only surefire way to find a friend in the nation’s capital was to own a dog, but President-elect Trump has said that 55 percent of American homes include pets. chose to locate the White House in a location where there was no. Among them are canine companions.
The former president-turned-future president was never a dog person, but when he first entered the White House in 2017, his four-legged furry friends roamed the West Wing and Executive Mansion hallways. It brought an end to decades of uninterrupted pacing. .
In fact, he’s the first person in over 100 years to not have some type of pet at his side.
The phrase “like a dog” often appears in President Trump’s rhetoric, but it has negative connotations (Getty Images)
President Trump’s rhetoric is constantly peppered with references to dogs, usually with the suggestion that someone he dislikes has done something negative “like a dog.”
At times, he goes even further, with a 2018 tweet criticizing Omarosa Manigault Newman, a former staffer turned tell-all author after the publication of her White House memoir Unhinged, and saying, I wrote it like this. , and gave her a job in the White House, which I don’t think worked out. Well done General Kelly for shooting that dog so quickly! ”
He also likened outgoing Utah senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to man’s best friend, noting that the former Massachusetts governor “choked like a dog” in the general election against then-President Barack Obama. suggested that he had done so.
Incidentally, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney are known to be dog lovers, with Mr. Obama owning two Portuguese water dogs, Sunny and Bo, while in the White House. Mr. Romney’s history with dogs has been a little more checkered, with his treatment of the late Irish setter Sheamus being an issue during past presidential elections.
President Trump has also compared his defeated enemies in the national security field to dogs. For example, when he famously claimed that slain ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “died like a dog” after being chased by American special forces soldiers, including military personnel. At the end of 2019, a working dog named Conan.
Conan, who was injured during a mission when al-Baghdadi detonated an explosive suicide vest, briefly gained national attention in the wake of the military victory, and the then-president subsequently welcomed the courageous dog to the White House. , held a short ceremony. He presented Conan with a medal and a plaque and allowed then-Vice President Mike Pence to pet and pet his Belgian Malinois just outside the Oval Office.
Many recent presidents, including Obama, have pets in the White House (Getty)
President Trump has always recognized the importance of celebrity status, telling reporters at the time that Conan is “probably the most famous dog in the world right now.”
“Conan did a great job. It’s a great honor to have him here,” he said, later adding that Conan (whose gender was later the subject of controversy between the White House and the Pentagon) was “very special.” It was,” he added.
But aside from hosting Conan’s White House appearance (which was derided by critics at the time as an attempt to distract from his looming impeachment), Trump’s time as a politician was no exception. They were rarely seen together.
He has a habit of hosting the winners of the annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show in his eponymous skyscraper for publicity, and in the past has raised money for animal-related charities. Sometimes.
However, public records about his life reveal that Trump is not a dog person. This is unusual for an American president, and the American Presidential Pet Museum notes that he is the only president since Andrew Johnson without any animals.
His late first wife, Ivana Trump, admitted in her memoir, Raising Trump, that he hated dogs, writing that he was “not a dog person” and that his poodle, Chappie, recounted how he constantly complained about his excessive barking.
She revealed that she never understood why he hated dogs, saying, “How can you not love a dog that just sees you walk in the door and acts like he won the lottery for the rest of his life?” ” he wrote.
At a 2019 campaign rally, President Trump clarified that he did not own a dog after discussing the “incredible” skills of German shepherds to sniff out drugs along the U.S.-Mexico border. I tried to explain.
“You love your dog, right?” he said, adding, “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having one, but I just don’t have the time.”
Continuing, he asked: “How would I look walking my dog on the White House lawn? Is that OK?”
“I don’t know. It seems a little fake, fake to me. A lot of people say, “Oh, you should get a dog,” or “Why?” “That’s good politically,” I said, “Look, that’s not my relationship with my people,” he said.
