What did Donald Trump do today?
He talked to children, which was probably a bad idea under the circumstances.
One of the United States' more unusual holiday traditions is the NORAD Santa Tracker, in which the international defense agency tasked with tracking missiles coming over the polar regions towards North America instead "tracks" Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The agency has embraced the idea in the name of good publicity, and several presidents before Trump have joined in, talking with children who call into the "hotline."
When Trump did this in 2018, he made headlines for criticizing a 7-year-old boy for still believing in Santa, calling it "marginal" at that age.
Tonight, Trump took six calls, including one from a very young child—probably too young to understand NORAD's actual role in missile tracking—who was apparently asking Trump to explain the concept.
CHILD: Does Santa have a tracker on him?
TRUMP: We track Santa all over the world. We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa's a very good person. We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we're not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. So we found out that Santa is good, Santa loves you, Santa loves Oklahoma like I do. You know, Oklahoma was very good to me in the election. So I love Oklahoma. Don't ever leave Oklahoma, okay?
This wasn't the only call in which Trump made reference to elections the children he was speaking to hadn't been alive for, or the only reference to his standby political gripes. He also used small children's phone calls about Santa to plug his coal-first energy plan and spread a 2020 election conspiracy theory.
Trump once again ducked reporters all day today, as he has done every day since the bungled partial release and cover-up of the Epstein investigative documents began last week. Considering that, rambling about "bad Santas" who are "infiltrating" the country was not even close the most disturbing thing Donald Trump said to a child today.
Trump: I am fine. You sound beautiful and cute. How old are you? Caller: I am eight
— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) December 24, 2025 at 3:55 PM
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Why does this matter?
- It's not the most important skill a president needs to have, but it's still embarrassing if you can't talk to little kids about Santa without being creepy or going off on a political rant about stolen elections.