Not even Santa Claus is safe from Donald Trump’s slander.
The president, 79, took calls from children across the United States on Wednesday as part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Santa tracker—during which he warned one child about a “bad Santa” infiltrating the country.
Trump, perched in a gold-encrusted chair at his sprawling Mar-a-Lago residence, began one phone call on Wednesday with Jasper, a 10-year-old from Oklahoma, by assuring him that Santa is “a very good person” after the child asked about tracking St. Nick’s movements.
“Santa is a very good person,” Trump, in a suit and gold tie, told Jasper. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. But we found out that Santa is good, Santa loves you, Santa loves Oklahoma like I do.”
The president couldn’t resist adding a reference to the 2024 election, in which he reportedly won the state by 34 percent.
“You know, Oklahoma was very good to me in the election so I love Oklahoma,” Trump told Jasper. “Don’t ever leave Oklahoma, okay?”
That call was one in a string of political asides Trump delivered to young children while taking part in a presidential tradition that began more than 70 years ago, when a child mistakenly dialed a Colorado military command center to ask about Santa Claus’ location.
“Pennsylvania is great. We won Pennsylvania, actually three times, but we won Pennsylvania. We won it in a landslide. So I love Pennsylvania,” Trump enthusiastically told a 5-year-old from the Keystone State—who was not yet alive during his first two presidential campaigns.
When the president asked Amelia, a child from Kansas, what she wanted from Santa for Christmas, she responded: “Uh, not coal.”
“Not coal, no, you don’t want coal. You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump chuckled. “I had to do that, I’m sorry. No, coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that at all costs.”
First Lady Melania Trump also took part in the festivities from the couple’s Palm Beach resort, though she handled her calls privately while the president blasted his on speakerphone.
“She’s very focused. The first lady’s very focused,” Trump said at one point, motioning toward Melania as she held a landline receiver to her ear. She did not meet his gaze.
As the president chatted with children about a forthcoming visit from gift-bearing St. Nick at his Florida estate, many of their caretakers may be grappling with an affordability crisis.
A Gallup poll earlier this month found that 29 percent of Americans cited high costs as the country’s most urgent health problem—one of the highest readings the firm has recorded in years of tracking.
Later on Wednesday, Trump pivoted from holiday cheer to grievance, decrying “Radical Left Scum” in a Christmas post on Truth Social.
“Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly,” he began, before launching into a laundry list of issues he has repeatedly pinned on his Democratic predecessors.
“We no longer have Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, or Weak Law Enforcement.”
Trump proceeded to tout a stock market rally that saw the S&P 500 and the Dow post record closing highs on Wednesday, as well as 4.3 percent GDP growth reported on Tuesday. He also claimed there was “no inflation”—even as the Bureau of Labor Statistics logged a 2.7 percent inflation rate last week.
“Tariffs have given us Trillions of Dollars in Growth and Prosperity, and the strongest National Security we have ever had,” he went on. “We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!!”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the president’s Christmas antics.
The post Trump, 79, Warns Boy, 10, of ‘Bad Santa’ Infiltrating U.S. in Bizarre Call appeared first on The Daily Beast.
