Donald Trump attends the State Department Kennedy Center Honors Medal Presentation Dinner at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Previous presidents traditionally spent Thanksgiving serving a meal to our deployed troops who are away from their loved ones during the holidays. Mr. Trump was at his palatial Mar-a-Lardo resort, playing golf, hobnobbing with the elite, and spewing hatred on social media.
His unhinged diatribe read in part:
“A very Happy Thanksgiving salutation to all of our Great American Citizens and Patriots who have been so nice in allowing our Country to be divided, disrupted, carved up, murdered, beaten, mugged, and laughed at, along with certain other foolish countries throughout the World, for being ‘Politically Correct,’ and just plain STUPID, when it comes to Immigration.”
Mr. Trump concluded his warm and fuzzy Thanksgiving message to the nation by referring to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as “seriously retarded” and belittling Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s gender and religious attire.
For the record, the 47th President has never issued a holiday message aimed at unity or even remotely befitting of the season. The man is utterly incapable of speaking kind words, performing selfless acts, or composing a tweet that doesn’t read like it was written by a fifth grader.
Meanwhile, MAGA’s latest boogeyman, mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, was at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, serving hungry New Yorkers.
Given the cult’s complete lack of self-awareness, I doubt they will pick up on the irony of the two conflicting scenarios. Considering the recent shooting of two members of the National Guard, I suspect that over the next few weeks we will witness an escalation in xenophobic battle cries similar to those heard in the days following September 11th.
For his part, Mr. Trump will likely spend the holiday season claiming he “saved Christmas,” a regurgitation of the same nonsense he peddled during his first term of office.
For years the President has alleged there is a war on Christmas. He also claims that while no other president has ended a war, he has ended "6 or 7" of them.
In fact, he has not, and there is no war on Christmas – not in the United States, at least. But that won’t preclude Mr. Trump from claiming it as another bogus battle victory.
During the holidays at Rockefeller Center in New York City, you’ll find a larger-than-life Christmas tree. On Capitol Hill in Washington DC, you’ll see a similar tree. There's even an impressive nativity scene right across from the South Lawn of the White House. It’s been displayed during both Democratic and Republican presidencies, including that of Barack Obama. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Crèche is a nationally known life-sized nativity scene in the heart of the Steel City. There’s a large Christkindlmarket held every year in Chicago and a smaller one in my hometown of Ellinwood, Kansas.
Throughout the season, public celebrations are held in virtually every city, hamlet, and crossroads in the United States. Those gathered for yuletide festivities exclaim, “Merry Christmas,” and sing carols extolling the birth of the Christ Child. Contrary to the narrative of right-wing fearmongers, there has not been a single instance in which those celebrations have been restricted – not even in blue cities that petrify conservatives.
This year, however, I.C.E. – not frozen precipitation, but rather MAGA’s gestapo – is prompting some communities to rethink public holiday gatherings. Taking this into consideration, one might conclude that it’s Mr. Trump who is declaring a war on Christmas – not the “radical left,” not pagans, and certainly not the Muslim community.
The non-existent war on Christmas is yet another distraction of the President’s own making. His fearful, gullible base gobbles it up like Christmas ham.
Though I suspect he would love for statues of his likeness to be added to the crèche -- and many American Christians would happily oblige -- Mr. Trump represents the antithesis of Christmas. He stands out in a motley crew of familiar, albeit comical, holiday villains that includes the likes of Burgermeister Meisterburger, Ebenezer Scrooge, and the Grinch.
Unlike the President, the fictional holiday villains ended up changing their ways, having been overcome by the Christmas spirit. Burgermeister Meisterburger was touched by the generosity of a stranger. Paranormal visions pushed Ebenezer Scrooge to reform. The Grinch’s heart “grew three sizes” as the result of the unconditional love of a child.
The only thing that's grown for Donald Trump is his insatiable appetite for division, vengeance, and corruption.
There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that you’ll find any holiday cheer, much less goodwill toward humanity, from the President. Like Krampus, Mr. Trump remains perpetually on the naughty list. He’s an angry elf.
J. Basil Dannebohm is a writer, speaker, consultant, and former legislator. His website is www.dannebohm.com. He is a registered Independent.