Good grief! All he had to do was smile, say a few funny lines prepared for him by his speechwriters about a deed he was about to perform, shake a few hands and call it good.

But when Donald Trump stood in front of the White House — along with the first lady — with a couple of turkeys for which he issued the usual “presidential pardon,” he chose to make, um, a political speech.

He made some nonsensical mention of the pending impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives, he tossed out his favored epithet toward the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sought to brag about the unparalleled strength of the U.S. military.

He made a bird-brained spectacle of himself in a ceremony that could have produced good-natured laughs over a tradition that began during the administration of President Bush 41.

But … no-o-o-o. It didn’t play out that way, at least not to my ears as I watched it as it occurred this afternoon.

Let’s remember that this guy’s previous full-time gig prior to being elected president of the United States was as the host of a network “reality” TV show. Donald Trump is no stranger to staged events.

Weird, man.