Fresh off his (unintentionally funny) decision to ruin the magic of Santa Claus for a seven-year-old girl, US President Donald Trump turned a simple video call with members of the armed forces into an ornery Christmas Day tirade about his proposed border wall, the government shutdown over its funding, and the fired FBI director James Comey.
[jwplayer oeDNQjvn]
Using a video link to speak with US troops stationed in Alaska, Bahrain, Guam and Qatar, Trump wished those in the armed forces a merry Christmas. Simple enough.
Immediately afterwards, 45 launched into another defence of his planned wall along the US-Mexico border.
“We have a little bit of a shutdown because we believe in walls and we believe in borders,” Trump said, referring to the governmental gridlock brought about by Congress’ refusal to pledge funds towards his signature campaign pledge.
WATCH: Trump talks to the troops about the border wall on Christmas pic.twitter.com/MzqIG9fZIm
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) December 25, 2018
After proselytising to the troops about his fundamentally flawed pet project, the POTUS riffed on another of his favourite topics: Comey, who was fired by Trump after refusing to close the FBI’s investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
(ICYMI, Flynn plead guilty to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia’s ambassador to the US during the presidential election campaign, and will face sentencing in the new year.)
“It’s a disgrace, what’s happening in our country,” Trump said.
“But other than that I wish everyone a very merry Christmas.”
President Trump: “Everybody hated Comey. They thought he did a horrible job. The Democrats hated him, they were calling for his resignation, they were calling for his firing – including Schumer, including Nancy Pelosi – until I fired him.” https://t.co/hWbECUXQ3q pic.twitter.com/noOATWL8mc
— The Hill (@thehill) December 25, 2018
His off-the-cuff remarks were a far sight from the Hallmark-esque message he recorded alongside First Lady Melania Trump:
Merry Christmas from President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS! pic.twitter.com/DDITJDxDaI
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) December 25, 2018
Another normal holiday season from the man who spent Christmas Eve by himself hurling out complaints on Twitter.
