President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted children and families for a Halloween celebration at the White House on Thursday, passing out candy without repeating past viral blunders involving inflatable Minion costumes.
The roughly hour-long evening event passed smoothly as the presidential couple placed sweets directly into children’s bags rather than onto their heads or masks. During his first term in 2019, Trump went viral after placing a candy bar on the head of a child dressed as a yellow henchman from the Minions franchise, a move he repeated last Halloween by setting a treat atop a child’s light-up mask.
While the White House grounds were decorated with pumpkins and autumn leaves, no inflatable Minion costumes appeared this year. A few trick-or-treaters instead dressed up as bananas, the characters’ favorite food.
Several members of Trump’s administration joined the festivities with their families, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The Air Force Strolling Strings provided musical accompaniment, playing seasonal selections ranging from the Ghostbusters theme to the Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Young visitors arrived in a wide variety of costumes, including Barbie, racecar drivers, Toy Story characters, dinosaurs, and Winnie the Pooh animals. Additional outfits featured soldiers, police officers, Secret Service members, Uncle Sam, Rosie the Riveter, and young children dressed as Founding Fathers complete with white wigs and colonial-style attire.
Trump appeared particularly drawn to a costume reflecting his own political movement. An older child wearing a red Make America Great Again hat, red flannel pajama pants bearing the phrase ‘MAGA for life,’ and a white long-sleeve shirt marked with the number 47 to signify the 47th president posed for a photograph with the Trumps.
Before returning to Washington for the holiday celebration, Trump spent Thursday campaigning in South Carolina for Republican Senator Darline Graham. Graham is seeking a full term after being appointed to finish her brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate term following his sudden death in July. During the campaign stop, Trump criticized Graham’s Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, in a surprisingly competitive race, and brought college golf players on stage.
Trump also refrained from publicly responding to recent remarks by former President Barack Obama, who joked at an Ohio rally that White House renovations made the building look like Saddam Hussein had opened a Cheesecake Factory. While the comparison sparked anger among Trump’s supporters, Obama later brushed off the controversy by describing the restaurant chain as his jam.
Following the White House event, scheduling changes cleared out Trump’s weekend campaign itinerary. Reports indicated that planned weekend visits to Kansas on Saturday and Iowa on Sunday were canceled.
