U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with children on the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa-tracking hotline on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. U.S. outlets said Trump held a heavily political conversation, promising to block the inflow of bad Santas when children asked about Santa Claus's location and mentioning the revival of the coal industry, a priority of his own policy agenda.
According to Bloomberg and NBC, Trump and his wife, Melania, took part in the 70th annual Santa-tracking tradition at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that day, exchanging about a dozen calls with children across the United States. The event is held each year so the president can communicate with military families around the world and personally safeguard the innocence cherished by children.
According to the outlets, in a call with a 10-year-old from Oklahoma, Trump described Santa as a good figure. He went on to signal his intent to thoroughly manage things so that bad Santas cannot infiltrate the United States. He did not give details, but the remarks were interpreted as reflecting his usual emphasis on strengthening border security.
He also laid out his views on energy policy without filter. When an 8-year-old girl living in Kansas said she did not want to receive coal as a gift, Trump asked whether she meant clean, beautiful coal. That is a phrase Trump has repeatedly used since the campaign to promote a revival of the coal mining industry. NBC reported, "Trump projected political themes such as energy production into this year's Christmas call."
Moments also emerged in which he highlighted children's intellectual levels or his own election performance during the conversations. When a child said they wanted a Kindle, Amazon's e-reader, he praised the child as a "high-intelligence person." He added, "We need more high-intelligence people in the United States." Fox News reported, "Trump praised clean, beautiful coal to the children and called a particular child a high-intelligence person." To a 5-year-old from Pennsylvania, he mentioned his landslide victory in that area to express familiarity.
An anecdote about Christmas snacks also surfaced. When an 8-year-old girl in North Carolina asked whether Santa would get angry if she did not leave cookies, Trump answered, "He won't get angry, but he will be very disappointed." He joked that Santa Claus is a bit on the heavy side and would like cookies.
Immediately after finishing the official calls with children, Trump posted a Christmas message with coarse language on the social media platform Truth Social. In the message, he offered blessings to all Americans while stressing that "the radical left scum attempting to destroy the country are failing." AP analyzed that "Trump has in the past also issued messages criticizing his political adversaries on Christmas."
Experts said Trump used this Christmas children's call event as a platform to promote his political values and achievements. The contents of the calls are expected to remain as an example of how the president's philosophy of governance is expressed in everyday communication channels. Major U.S. media reported that this year's Christmas calls went beyond simple holiday greetings and served as another chance to reaffirm the priorities pursued by the Trump administration.