We’ve already seen that the Trump administration has trouble with the simplest tasks, like pulling together a proper hat for St. Patrick’s Day, or creating a typo-free inauguration poster. So it’s not much of a surprise that the upcoming White House Easter Egg Roll, apparently the biggest WH social event of the year, also appears set for disaster. The New York Times reports today that the understaffed administration is woefully unprepared for Monday’s event:
The evidence points to a quickly thrown-together affair that people close to the planning said would probably draw about 20,000 people—substantially smaller than last year’s Easter Egg Roll, which drew 37,000—and be staffed by 200 volunteers, one-fifth of the usual number. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe the plans for the Easter Egg Roll, which are still evolving just a week before the event.
The White House has ordered 40,000 of the commemorative eggs—about half of the roughly 85,000 ordered in 2016—with 18,000 to be given away at the Easter Egg Roll and another 22,000 available for sale, according to Lara Kline, the vice president for marketing and communications at the White House Historical Association, the official retailer.
Melinda Bates, who organized eight years of Easter Egg Rolls as director of the White House Visitors Office for the Clinton administration, told the Times: “It’s the single most high-profile event that takes place at the White House each year, and the White House and the first lady are judged on how well they put it on.”
So far, it’s not looking good. But at least they have a vet on staff: Maybe press secretary Sean Spicer can actually be useful for once, as all of his vast experience as the White House Easter Bunny will finally come into play. Naturally, the official statement from the White House is that “Plans for the Easter Egg Roll are well underway, and the White House looks forward to hosting it.” This is according to Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director, who has been on the job for less than a month.