Trump Takes Credit for Americans Being Allowed to Say 'Merry Christmas' Again
21:49 GMT 17.12.2021 (Updated: 22:03 GMT 17.12.2021)
© AFP 2023 / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI
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Trump positioned himself as part of a pro-"Merry Christmas" effort during his presidential campaign and early in his presidency. Many Republicans have claimed that retailers were anti-Christian for removing holiday imagery from their logo or saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," in the years prior to 2017.
Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that four years after declaring victory in the "war on Christmas," more Americans are saying "Merry Christmas" nowadays because of him.
In a special Christmas interview on Newsmax, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee claimed that right before the 2016 presidential election, "America had [been] going into a long period where people quit saying 'Merry Christmas.'"
As sentimental music for strings and piano played, Huckabee said Trump "deliberately changed that," crediting him for openly declaring that from now on "we're gonna say it again".
Trump admitted that he indeed was responsible for bringing back the phrase, adding that "the country had started with this ‘woke’ a little bit before that."
"And it was embarrassing for stores to say ‘Merry Christmas,’" he added. "You’d see these big chains, they want your money but they don’t want to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ And they’d use reds and they’d use whites and snow but they wouldn’t say ‘Merry Christmas.’"
this is incredible pic.twitter.com/JhYHKjehY6
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 16, 2021
The former president added that when he announced the beginning of his presidential campaign in 2015, he stated "You’re going to say 'Merry Christmas' again."
"And now people are saying it," Trump noted to the inspiring music, before admitting that despite all of his efforts, names like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson were "obliterated" because of "craziness."
"But they are saying 'Merry Christmas' again. That was a big part of what I was doing, I would say it all the time during that period … I tell you, we brought it back very quickly," he concluded.
"America loves Christmas," Trump added. "Whether you’re Muslim, whether you’re Christian, whether you’re Jewish, everyone loves Christmas. And they’d say ‘Merry Christmas’ until these crazy people came along and they wanted to stop it along with everything else."
6 December 2021, 07:49 GMT
This is from the first time the former president has highlighted his efforts to defend his fellow citizens' right to say the Christmas greeting.
Trump also reminded his supporters of his efforts during many public events in 2017 as his first Christmas at the White House approached. And at the end of December 2019, Trump reiterated the story of one of the most prominent achievements of his administration.
— PoliticsVideo23 (@politicsvideo23) December 23, 2019
In December 2020, the outgoing president declared Christmas Eve a holiday for most government employees.
Trump's warm feelings for Christmas may not be shared by his wife, whose alleged phone call with her friend was leaked at the end of last year. In this conversation, then-First Lady Melania Trump admitted that she was "working her a** off" for the White House decorations in a festive style, but "who gives a f**k about the Christmas stuff?"
Interestingly, according to the Pew Research Center, 90% of Americans celebrated Christmas in 2017, with just over half believing it "doesn't matter" how businesses greet consumers during the holiday season.
