The following article by Olivia Beavers was posted on the Hill website December 24, 2017:
President Trump on Sunday touted that people are saying “Merry Christmas again,” asserting that he stood up to an “assault” on Christmas hours before the holiday.
“People are proud to be saying Merry Christmas again. I am proud to have led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase,” Trump tweeted on Christmas Eve. “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!”
Earlier Sunday, during a video conference with soldiers overseas, Trump wished U.S. troops a “very, very merry Christmas,” adding that the country is saying “merry Christmas, again, very, very proudly.”
Trump has long seized on the “war on Christmas” to rally support among evangelicals and Christian conservatives. Months before the holiday season this year, the president renewed his claim that he was bringing back the greeting.
“We’re getting near that beautiful Christmas season that people don’t talk about anymore. They don’t use the word ‘Christmas’ because it’s not politically correct,” Trump told a crowd attending the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., in October.
“You go to department stores and they’ll say ‘Happy New Year,’ or they’ll say other things and it’ll be red, they’ll have it painted. But they don’t say — well guess what? We’re saying merry Christmas again,” he told supporters at the event.
Trump frequently touted the claim on the 2016 campaign trail when he slammed the idea of being politically correct and wishing “happy holidays” over “merry Christmas.” He has also previously taken shots at former President Obama for not saying “merry Christmas.”
Obama did regularly wish U.S. households a merry Christmas and “happy holidays” when he served in office.