Admittedly, it’s not easy to find uplifting words after this exhausting year. Exploding prices, energy shortages, existential fears, a war in Europe. “At Christmas we all feel what community and cohesion is – especially after this challenging year,” agrees Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who despite this – or precisely because of this – is trying to inspire a little confidence in uncertain times.
And so, at the end of the year, French President Emmanuel Macron swears by the solidarity of his compatriots and appeals: “Let’s take care of each other”. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier even wants to counter the seemingly endless stream of bad news with good news: “If this year had a good thing, then it was the experience: together we will get through this time,” he said in his Christmas speech.
Donald Trump’s Christmas message reads: “The USA is dying from within!!!”
The former US president, who wants to become one again, believes his country is on the brink on this “very cold but very beautiful Christmas day”, by which he does not mean the Arctic winter storm that has already claimed dozens of lives in the USA.
The situation on the southern border is like a “horror show”, Trump said on his network Truth Social, at least compared to the time when he was still in charge. Because the US had the “safest” border “in history,” all sorts of criminals were pouring into the country, he claimed. “Today, as never before, we are a failing nation, a failing nation.”
The choice of words is neither festive nor surprising. In Trump’s eyes, the USA has “failed” several times (e.g. here or here) since he no longer resides in the White House, his accusations as hung as the tinsel from the previous year. And then there is Trump’s unsuccessful start to the election campaign, which after numerous antics obviously does not allow a phase of restraint, although it might do him good.
However, this is only one reading. The other: Trump and Christmas just don’t belong together.
In 2017, in his first year in office, he saved Christmas, or rather the phrase “Merry Christmas”. Trump said at the time that people were happy that he was able to avert the “attack” on the beautiful phrase. People could now be proud again to wish each other a merry Christmas – instead of “happy holidays”. This is how his predecessor Barack Obama would have handled it, and thus excessively politically correct, as Trump (wrongly) poisoned: Obama also wished Merry Christmas, and again.
In 2018, too, Trump had something to correct. On Christmas Eve, he took calls from kids at the White House, an old tradition. For the seven-year-old Collman Lloyd, the conversation ended sobering: Trump questioned the existence of Santa Claus and described the belief in “Santa Claus” at Collman’s age as “borderline”.
Still, Trump was treated to a “Christmas present” in 2019, or at least the prospect of one. North Korea warned the US of a possible “Christmas present” in what was widely read as a threat to test its (nuclear) arsenal. “We’ll find out what the surprise is,” Trump said. Maybe it’s a “nice” gift, maybe even a “nice vase compared to a rocket test.” In general, Trump was apparently in the best of moods on those Christmas days: the President unleashed a veritable “Twitter storm”, noted “Deadline” at the time, he worked verbosely on the “crazy Nancy Pelosi” or attested the governor of California “a really bad job ” close.
In 2020, Trump found far fewer words for the corona pandemic, which had claimed the lives of around 330,000 Americans at the time. This Christmas, “our gatherings might look different than in previous years,” the White House said succinctly. No more and no less. The headlines were correspondingly wordy: “In the official Christmas message, Trump hardly mentions Covid; Biden talks about the pain of the pandemic,” said NBC News, for example. In a video message, Joe Biden, the US President-elect at the time, appealed to Americans: “We will miss our family, but it is what we have to do to protect our families.”
After all: Shortly before Christmas 2021, Trump found words of praise for the vaccines against the virus and even campaigned aggressively for them. “Best thing Donald Trump has done in years,” CNN commented, as if it were a little Christmas miracle. After he was voted out of office as president, Trump, who had long downplayed the pandemic for election tactical reasons, apparently saw no reason to tell his supporters anything else. There were still old bugs: “Merry Christmas everyone,” Trump said through his spokeswoman, “We will make America great again,” we will make America great again. The comments column read, “It was a great Christmas because Donald Trump wasn’t my president. Because, as you know, he lost a free and fair election.”
As is well known, Trump sees things differently, who wished “a Merry Christmas to everyone” this year, “including the radical left-wing Marxists who are trying to destroy our country” or the “Lamestream media”. He ended his Christmas outburst with the words: “Love to all”.
Quellen: “Politico”, “The Independent”, CNN, Reuters, “Deadline”, NBC News, “Newsweek”
