A day that will live in infamy

Happy Four Seasons Total Landscaping Day!

Three years ago today, this happened:

That’s Rudy Giuliani, the lead voice for Donald Trump’s disproven election fraud claims, standing in front of a drab green building in northeast Philadelphia. The building housed the Four Seasons Total Landscaping Company. It was adjacent to a sex shop, a crematorium and, yes, a jail.

And it instantly became one of the most remarkable — and memorable — moments in the history of American presidential politics.

The screw-up was obvious to anyone paying even a little bit of attention. The Trump legal team wanted to do an event outside the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia. Which looks like this:

Instead, some dummy advance guy booked this:

President Trump even hinted at the mess up. “Lawyers News Conference Four Seasons, Philadelphia. 11:00 a.m.,” he tweeted.

To which the Four Seasons hotel responded: “To clarify, President Trump’s press conference will NOT be held at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia. It will be held at Four Seasons Total Landscaping— no relation with the hotel.”

No relation!

Never one to admit a mistake, Trump, um, corrected his tweet to reflect the actual location — the landscaping company — and his campaign insisted that this had all been a part of its grand plan.

As the New York Times wrote:

In reality, the mistake was not in the booking, but in a garbled game of telephone. Mr. Giuliani and the Trump campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski told the president on Saturday morning their intended location for the news conference and he misunderstood, assuming it was an upscale hotel, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

But the campaign had always intended to hold the news conference in a friendlier part of town.

Which, riiiiiiiiiight. And I’m FBI agent Burt Macklin.

Anywho, proving that America is the best damn country ever, Four Seasons Total Landscaping saw its opportunity. Unknown one day, on the national news the next, the company leapt into action.

This, from NPR, sums things up nicely:

Four Seasons Total Landscaping wants to "Make America Rake Again."

Just a day after the Philadelphia family business became the unlikely backdrop for a belligerent Trump campaign press conference, its owners cashed in on the viral fame — and even crossed party lines.

On Sunday night, the company rolled out a line of T-shirts, hoodies and stickers featuring the slogans "Lawn and Order" and its riff on MAGA.

On Monday, it started offering face masks as well.

By Tuesday, everything had sold out.

Four Seasons' pivot to apparel had clearly paid off. The company posted on its Facebook page that it was temporarily suspending sales of most of its items due to lack of stock.

Make America Rake Again!

(Sidebar: The Four Seasons merch shop is still open! Only $55 for a zip-up hooded sweatshirt!)

In the immediate aftermath of the press conference, there was even a petition effort to get Four Seasons Total Landscaping named to the National Register of Historic Places. (It’s about 2,500 signatures short as of today.)

And in 2021, MSNBC made a documentary about the company — and the day.

(For even more, read this piece in New York magazine — the most comprehensive thing on the Internet about the Four Seasons debacle.)

I will admit that, sometimes when I am feeling low, I pull up the clip of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference. And watch a few minutes. It never fails to bring me joy.

So, thank you Rudy Giuliani. For a gift that keeps on giving.