Journalist Just Compared the Amount of Time a Turkey Has Spent on Camera in the White House Briefing Room This Month to That of Sarah Sanders, and It Says a Lot

It's nearly Thanksgiving and on Tuesday the White House held its annual turkey pardon (I know, I know, I know). But the following little tidbit makes today's event even more ridiculous.

ABC's Alex Mallin noticed something striking; the turkey pardoned by President Donald Trump spent more time in the White House briefing room in November than Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The turkey, White House photographer Jabin Botsford told Philip Bump of The Washington Post, spent five minutes at the podium in the White House briefing room.

Sanders - throughout the entire month of November - has spent zero time up there. None. Zilch. Bump made a graph so that the data would be easy to see.

Philip Bump/WaPo

The gaggle of journalists reportedly enjoyed the company of the bird.

"The bird quickly put the members of the press at ease, though," wrote Bump, "by treating them as they’d come to expect in that room: eyeing them skeptically, answering no questions and leaving after only a few minutes."

Savage.

Sadly for Sanders, Twitter prefers the turkey.

Remember the new rules though: no tough questions and no follow-ups. The turkey does not have the time.

Some are wondering what the turkey did to need a pardon from Trump in the first place.

It must have been a helluva pardon.

The turkey may have gobbled up more camera time today than Sanders this whole month, but the stats looking back to the summer do not look much better for Sanders.

In the last 30 days since October 20, Bump found by reviewing White House transcripts, Sanders has only spent 23 minutes speaking to reporters at the podium.

That's less than five minutes for Sanders in the past 30 days for every one minute the turkey pecked around today.

Philip Bump/WaPo

Looking back to September 1, Sanders has spent more than 100 minutes at the podium... or about 20 minutes for each of the turkey's one.

Philip Bump/WaPo

The time in minutes is deceiving, though. Since August 15, Sanders has only appeared at the podium four times.

Philip Bump/WaPo

Trump actually pardoned two turkeys today - Peas and Carrots - though it was not made clear which bird graced the briefing room.

Peas did, however, claim this year's award for National Thanksgiving Turkey.

Democracy in action.

Peas and Carrots are fortunate fowl. Each year, around 46 million turkeys are not given the chance to be pardoned.

Hey, at least Trump didn't pardon himself.