Donald J. Trump seems to be picking a fight during this season of joy, merriment and holy worship.
He is peppering his speeches with Christmas greetings, implying — falsely, in my view — that Americans have been inundated with politically correct “happy holidays” greetings that diminish the true significance of Christmas.
I want to invite the president to look around and listen carefully to television and other media’s treatment of the holiday season. I am hearing plenty of “Merry Christmas” greetings from TV hosts, journalists, merchants, children … you name ’em, they’re saying it.
The president, furthermore, keeps insisting that his immediate predecessor, Barack Obama, diminished Christmas’s significance in our culture by saying “happy holidays” when, in Trump’s view, he should be wishing us Merry Christmas. Of course, he is mistaken. The president and Michelle Obama decked the White House halls of plenty of Christmas décor, just as George W. and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton did and, well, you can go back to George and Martha Washington if you wish.
What I suspect is occurring here is that the president is continuing the ongoing phony “war on Christmas” narrative that many in the conservative media have declared was underway.
C’mon, Mr. President. Give it a rest. Enjoy the holiday and wish happiness for everyone, even those who don’t celebrate Christmas.