President Donald Trump spoke with children across the country on Christmas Eve as part of NORAD’s annual Santa tracking calls — and repeatedly steered the conversation toward his electoral success.
On Wednesday, Dec. 24, Trump and first lady Melania Trump marked the holiday at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., where they took calls from kids nationwide.
During a call from a child in Pennsylvania, Trump called the state “great” before pivoting to politics.
“We won Pennsylvania — actually, three times,” he said. “We won it in a landslide. So I love Pennsylvania.”
Trump carried Pennsylvania in 2016 and 2024, but lost the state in 2020.
In 2016, he won 48.2% of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 47.5%, according to The New York Times. Four years later, former President Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by 1.17%, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported. In 2024, Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris, earning 3,543,308 votes to Harris’ 3,423,042, per The New York Times.
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Trump also told a child from Oklahoma that the state was “very good to me in the election,” adding that they should “never leave Oklahoma.” (Trump won Oklahoma in three straight presidential elections, and the state hasn’t voted Democratic in a presidential race since 1964.)
His comments echoed a notable moment from his first term. In 2018, Trump spoke with Collman Lloyd, a 7-year-old from South Carolina who said she planned to leave treats for Santa, according to a video obtained by Post and Courier and WISTV. Trump replied, “Well, you just have a good time. Are you still a believer in Santa?” After she said yes, he added, “Because at 7, it’s marginal, right?”
Trump’s Christmas Eve remarks also resemble comments he made in November following the death of U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.
Beckstrom, a 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot and killed near the White House on Nov. 26. Asked whether he would attend Beckstrom’s funeral, Trump said he hadn’t decided — but still singled out the state where she was from.
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“I hadn’t thought about it yet, but it certainly is something I could conceive of,” he said, before adding, “I love West Virginia. You know I won West Virginia by one of the biggest margins of any president anywhere.”
“These are great people. I love the people of West Virginia. I love the people of our country,” he continued. “But I haven’t given it any thought, but it sounds like something I could do.”
Trump did not attend Beckstrom’s funeral on Dec. 9, but he invited both soldiers’ parents to visit the White House, NBC News reported. Wolfe’s family visited Trump on Dec. 4 and posed for a photo with him in the Oval Office.
