Trump Takes a Midterm Break for 6,000 Trick-or-Treaters: Air Force One Flyover, Seal-Wrapped Hershey Bars and a 'Ghostbusters' Shimmy at the White House
Five days before Election Day, the campaign blitz paused for the White House's oldest autumn tradition - the president back from South Carolina 30 minutes before the first costumed kids reached the South Lawn.
WASHINGTON - With five days until Election Day, President Donald Trump took Thursday evening off from the midterm campaign blitz to greet trick-or-treaters at the White House. The New York Post reported 6,000 people were welcomed to the South Lawn for the annual event, hosted by First Lady Melania Trump; the president had arrived back from an afternoon campaign stop in South Carolina just 30 minutes before it began, at the end of a swing through Ohio, Mississippi, Michigan and Georgia.
The scene mixed the traditional with the theatrical. Costumes ranged from Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam to Dolly Parton, soldiers, athletes, a garbage truck and Toy Story characters, while the U.S. Air Force Strolling Strings played Halloween songs and the new Air Force One roared over the South Lawn - twice, per the Post. The Trumps handed out large Hershey bars custom-wrapped with the presidential seal and the words 'HAPPY HALLOWEEN,' bearing the couple's golden signatures. One boy dressed as a founding father handed the president a historic document - believed to be the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence - for his signature; the president also signed two race car drivers' uniforms and, at one point, danced a shimmy to the 'Ghostbusters' theme.
The administration was in the line with its families - Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and budget director Russell Vought among them - alongside military, law enforcement, foster and adoptive families. The event carried administration business in miniature: the Treasury Department handed out coloring books promoting Trump Accounts, and the Agriculture Department featured a giant pumpkin and mini pumpkins from American farmers.
White House Halloween celebrations date to 1958, when First Lady Mamie Eisenhower decorated with skeletons, jack-o-lanterns and stalks of dried corn, according to the White House Historical Association - and Thursday's host seemed in no hurry to end this edition. With a long line of trick-or-treaters still unmet at the close, USA TODAY reported, Trump stayed outside with the first lady an extra five minutes to listen and dance to the Air Force group's music. Friday, the blitz resumes in Daytona Beach.
