The president promised children he was ‘right on track’ to make America great as his advisers cast off their hard shells during the annual White House event

It is a sign of the times that the sight of the president of the United States beside a person in a bunny suit wearing giant spectacles is probably the least bizarre political spectacle of the past three months.

A history of the White House Easter egg roll – in pictures Read more

Donald Trump welcomed families to the White House on Monday for the 139th Easter egg roll, its biggest social event of the year. Amid reports of a late scramble to get organised, officials said 21,000 children and adults were attending the festivities – down from the 35,000 who attended last year.

It remains to be seen if Trump, who bitterly disputed that the size of his inauguration crowd was smaller than Barack Obama’s despite clear photographic evidence, will claim his was the biggest and best Easter egg roll ever.

In theory, this was a day to put politics aside after a tumultuous start for a president better known for breaking eggs than rolling them. On a rain-soaked south lawn, figures who have become bogeymen in the liberal imagination – people who filled last year’s Republican national convention in Cleveland with dark and bilious rhetoric, encouraging chants of “Lock her up!” – attempted to show a softer side as they wandered among the Cat in the Hat, Elmo and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

“Story time with Jeff Sessions” might make an unlikely TV show but there the hardline attorney general was, in suit and tie, reading It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler to a group of kids. Sessions, sitting by a pink sign that said “reading nook”, had barely got started when Trump emerged on the White House balcony.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Attorney general Jeff Sessions reads a book to children during the Easter egg roll. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

“The president’s coming!” announced Sessions. “There he is! There’s an Easter bunny up there!”

Trump waved and there was a small cheer from the crowd, where one red “Make America great again” sign was visible. “I want to thank everybody,” the president said. “This is the 139th Easter egg roll. Think of it: 139. It began a long time ago – 1878.”

In Trumpian fashion, he suddenly pivoted to a quasi-campaign speech. “And we will be stronger and bigger and better as a nation than ever before. We’re right on track. You see what’s happening, and we’re right on track. So thank you, everybody, for being here.”

Accompanied by first lady Melania and son Barron, Trump said the three of them would come out to join the crowd for “a great” Easter egg roll. “And I don’t know if we’re going to be successful, but I know a lot of people down there are going to be successful. I’ve seen those kids, and they’re highly, highly competitive. That I can tell you.”

The president thanked his wife, who earlier had seemed to nudge him to remind him to put his hand on his heart during the national anthem. “She’s really worked hard on this. She has been working on this for a long time to make it perfect, and we wanted to keep it just right.” He also thanked his 11-year-old son, Barron, “for being here”.

Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) america first, right pic.twitter.com/i1cEjY1m5s

Melania stepped up to the microphone. “As we renew this tradition, thank you for joining us,” she said. “On behalf of the president and Barron, we wish you great fun and beautiful days coming ahead of us.”

The somewhat stiff formalities contrasted with the easy banter of Barack and Michelle Obama at the same event a year ago. “Yay! Thank you, honey,” the first lady said back then. “I’m going to be running around the White House with a bunch of kids – and any adults who feel like they can hang.”

Back then, on a sunnier day, there was a surprise visit from Beyoncé along with basketball and American football players, and a performance by the actor and singer Idina Menzel. The somewhat less starry entertainment this year included the Martin Family Circus and the boy band Bro4.

The speeches done, Trump joined the children for a short time and showed he was still learning the ropes. At one point a child asked the president to sign his hat. Trump did so but then tossed the hat into the crowd. “No!” the child could be heard exclaiming in the incident captured on video.



POLITICO (@politico) A kid asks Trump to sign his hat at the White House Easter Egg Roll. The president signs ... and then tosses the hat into the crowd. pic.twitter.com/7ExdhpO97H

Sessions resumed in his broad Alabama accent: “PJ Funny-bunny decided he didn’t want to be a bunny any more. He wanted to be a bear ...” But in the end, “PJ was very happy to come back to bunny land.”

Sessions, whose grandchildren were present, said self-deprecatingly: “Some of us have big ears. This is a good story. We ought to be happy with who we are.”



Finishing up, he told the children: “This is the White House where the president lives. A lot of work gets done here. His team works like beavers in there. They work night and day.”

Next up in the “reading nook” was Melania, who had brought Party Animals by Kathie Lee Gifford. “I really like this book because it shows we are all different, but we are all the same,” the first lady said.

Meanwhile, Trump’s son Donald Jr, never short of New York braggadocio, declared his daughter Kai the winner of the egg roll. “I think that was the fastest egg roll in the history of the White House egg roll,” he said of his daughter, who has “her grandpa’s competitiveness. We call her Baby Donald for many reasons.”

Reflecting on his surroundings, Trump Jr added: “I get to do some of the cool stuff. To be able to stay at the White House, as an American, is really surreal.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump, Melania Trump and Barron Trump watch the start of the Easter egg roll. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/SIPA Pool/EPA

The White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Sean Spicer watched their children among those rolling 18,000 commemorative wooden eggs. Spicer, who portrayed the Easter Bunny in 2008, said that today “we’re just sticking to a tie”.



Despite the rain, the visitors included plenty of happy Trump supporters who had won tickets to be there in a lottery. Michael Schmidt, 43, a computer programmer who voted for the president, had driven seven hours from Dayton, Ohio, with his daughter Aubrey, 11, and seven-year-old son Austin. “I didn’t anticipate it being this cool,” he said, seeing the White House for the first time.

Aubrey said: “I never thought I’d be able to see the president. It was thrilling and exciting.”

Another Trump supporter, Steve Borders, 37, a US military mechanic from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was accompanied by his wife and daughters aged 13 and nine. “It’s outstanding,” he said. “A once in a lifetime opportunity. The highlight was the chance the girls got to see Melania Trump read.”

Maureen Breitenbach, 70, last attended the event during Ronald Reagan’s presidency and had come with her daughter and three grandchildren. She said: “The White House is the people’s house that we allow the president to stay in. This event is a reminder why it’s important to celebrate Christ’s resurrection.”

Breitenbach, from Silver Spring, Maryland, added: “Donald Trump is doing a magnificent job. It’s not even 100 days yet and he is leading the US down the right path, regaining admiration and respect for our country around the world. He’s going to keep us safe. I’ll be happy he gets the wall built.”

Her granddaughter Victoria, 8, had tapped Trump on the arm. What had she wanted to say to him? “Happy Easter.”