What you need to know
President Donald Trump boasted about his election victory while taking a phone call from children on Christmas Eve.
On Wednesday, Dec. 24, the president and first lady Melania Trump celebrated Christmas at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. There, they joined the NORAD Santa Claus Call, accepting calls from children across the United States.
When a child from Pennsylvania called him, the 79-year-old president told him his home state was “great.”
“We won Pennsylvania — three times, actually,” the president continued. “We won by a landslide. That’s why I love Pennsylvania.”
sea span
Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2016 and 2024 elections, but not in 2020.
According to the New York Times, in 2016, Hillary Clinton received 48.2% of the vote and Hillary Clinton received 47.5%. Four years later, former President Joe Biden won the state by a 1.17% margin, the Pennsylvania Capital Star reported.
In 2024, Trump won 3,543,308 votes to defeat former Vice President Kamala Harris, while Harris received 3,423,042 votes, according to the New York Times.
President Trump also told a kid from Oklahoma that the state had “treated me very well in the election” and that he should “never leave Oklahoma.” (Trump won Oklahoma in three consecutive presidential elections, but the state hasn’t been under a Democratic administration since 1964.)
Never miss a news. Sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to human interest stories.
The president’s comments this holiday season follow newsworthy Christmas conversations during his first term. In 2018, he spoke with Coleman Lloyd, a 7-year-old South Carolina girl, and she told him about her plans to leave Santa Claus candy, according to video obtained by the Post and Courier and WISTV.
However, the president gave an unusual response, saying, “Well, we’re just having a good time. Do you still believe in Santa?” When she admitted that it was, he replied, “Because 7 years old is the limit, right?”
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty
President Trump’s comments Wednesday are similar to those he made in November about West Virginia following the death of U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.
A 20-year-old West Virginia National Guardsman, Sgt. Andrew Wolf, 24, was shot to death near the White House on November 26th. Asked if he would attend Beckström’s funeral, Trump commented on her hometown.
“I haven’t thought about it yet, but it’s definitely something I can think about,” Trump said, adding, “I love West Virginia. As you know, I won West Virginia by the widest margin of any president.”
“They’re great people. I love the people of West Virginia. I love the people of our country,” he said. “But I haven’t thought anything about it, but I feel like I could do something about it.”
Trump did not attend Beckstrom’s funeral on December 9, but invited the parents of both soldiers to visit the White House, according to NBC News. Wolf’s family visited President Trump on Dec. 4 and posed for photos with him in the Oval Office.
