The Biden family has been the subject of online criticism over their decision to cut down one of the last remaining Fraser Fir trees in Western North Carolina after the utter devastation of Hurricane Helene. While the Biden’s sought to draw attention to the region by selecting the fir to decorate as their personal Christmas tree, some saw it as poor taste and an attempt to improve public perception surrounding the administration’s response to the natural disaster.
Standing before the White House, First Lady Jill Biden spoke to reporters about the tree. “This beautiful Fraser Fir was grown at the Cartner’s Christmas tree farm, where the Cartner family has been growing trees for more than 60 years, and their farm is nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, a region that was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene the Cartner family lost 1000s of trees in the storm, but this one remained standing, and they named it tremendous for the extraordinary hope that it represents,” she said.
Biden continued, “It’s an honor to be here today with Congresswoman Virginia Fox as well as members of the North Carolina National Guard and their families who are leading the work to rebuild after the hurricane, this tree recognizes your tremendous, tremendous strength and service in just a few days, volunteers from all over the country will pour in to transform this tree and decorate the entire White House, and out of the whirlwind of glitter and garlands will come the warmth and comfort of the season. I can’t wait for you all to share in it. Happy holidays.”
The video was shared to social media, drawing a wave of reactions from users who questioned the decision to cut down the resilient tree that survived the perilous hurricane. “First lady Jill Biden received the 2024 White House Christmas tree, a Frasier fir from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, a community recently impacted by Hurricane Helene,” ABC News wrote.
One person weighed in, “When you’re a tree that survives a cat 4 hurricane but not the Biden’s.” Others criticized the optics behind the move. “This probably isn’t going to send the message they were thinking about. But it perfectly symbolizes the current administration and the current state of the Democratic Party. This tree went through hell and survived. Just so they could kill it,” they wrote.
Another person agreed, “Of all the trees in that state, they chopped down that one! They literally could’ve taken any other tree from North Carolina and at least it would’ve still done the job of being symbolic, but no, they had to have that one.”
“It’s not just that you took one of the few surviving trees in WNC and yoinked it for your temporary lawn decoration, but also that you thought it might improve your image in NC somehow, and that no one in your orbit thought to tell you this looks really bad. Just perfect,” another person said. “This is in SUCH POOR TASTE. Why not select another tree from an area not suffering from a natural disaster? The tone deafness of the Democrats party is simply unbelievable, unacceptable, and the reason why they lost the election,” another person wrote.
Watch Jill Biden’s remarks below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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