Rarely will political correctness characterize President Donald Trump’s personality, and that isn’t about to change when it comes to his feelings about Christmas.
During the White House Christmas tree-lighting ceremony last week, Trump displayed a boldness that has not been seen from the Oval Office in quite some time. In a short message, Trump not only confirmed the biblical Christmas story, he did it in a manner his predecessors did not dare approach.
“The Christmas story begins 2,000 years ago with a mother, a father, their baby son and the most extraordinary gift of all: the gift of God’s love for all of humanity,” the president told the American public. “Whatever our beliefs, we know that the birth of Jesus Christ and the story of His life forever changed the course of human history.”
Introduced by Kathie Lee Gifford at the ceremony held at President’s Park, Trump used his remarks to share a markedly different message than the ones delivered at this time of year by his predecessor, Barack Obama, who consistently omitted the name of Jesus when making his holiday address.
In an era when many Americans refuse to recognize the real reason for the season, Trump said it was finally time to put the apathy and fear of doing so to rest.
“Today is a day that I have been looking very much forward to all year long,” Trump said. “It’s one that we have heard and that we speak about and we dream about. And now, as the president of the United States, it’s my tremendous honor to finally wish America and the world a very merry Christmas.”
The White House tree-lighting ceremony dates back to Christmas Eve 1923, when then-President Calvin Coolidge lit a balsam fir tree from his home state of Vermont in front of 3,000 spectators on the White House grounds. Then-First Lady Lou Hoover oversaw efforts of what then would become an annual tradition.
“For nearly a century, through good times and bad, every president has taken part in this wonderful tradition,” Trump said.
In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas to become a legal federal holiday. The first White House Christmas tree sat on the second floor of the White House in 1889 and was decorated by the family of President Benjamin Harrison with candles and toys.
Although many bring President Trump’s faith into question due to his brashness and sometimes crude way of expressing himself, believers can be assured that this president of the United States has their back when it comes to their expression of Jesus and the real “reason for the season.” {eoa}
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