Donald Trump, of course, had to be a Christmas asshole:
Trump May Have Ruined a Kid's Christmas
Quote:Trump May Have Ruined a Kid's Christmas
Warning: Spoiler alert re: Santa Claus.
One of the government functions that is not affected by the shutdown is NORAD's annual tracking of Santa Claus. Pretty hard to describe that function as "essential," but it basically doesn't cost anything (because volunteers do most of the work), and while voters might tolerate park rangers or IRS middle managers getting stiffed on their paychecks, it is politically unwise to mess with kids' Christmases. Donald Trump apparently did not get that memo, however.
The NORAD tradition dates back to 1955, when an ad for the Colorado Springs location of Sears included a number that kids could call to talk to Santa. There was a typo, however, and the number printed actually rang through to the Pentagon hotline at the local military base. The same hotline that was pretty much only to be used when the president ordered a nuclear attack. On the day the ad was run, the phone rang, and Col. Harry Shoup answered it with trepidation, thinking that the Russkies had finally made their move. Then he got irritated, thinking the questions about Santa were a joke by his staff. When he finally realized what had happened, he did his best Claus imitation, and both a nuclear and a Christmas crisis were averted. From that incident comes the custom of NORAD not only tracking Santa Claus, but also fielding phone calls (and, now, e-mails and tweets) from children looking for updates on his whereabouts. Well over a thousand volunteers from around the country band together to make sure every inquiry gets an answer.
In view of Donald Trump's empty calendar (see above), someone had the idea that it would be a good idea for he and the First Lady to take a few phone calls. Kind of a win-win: Give him something to do, give a few kids a lifelong story about how they got an update on Santa from the President of the United States, and get a good photo-op (for a President who could stand to generate a few warm fuzzy feelings these days).
The fly in the ointment, of course, is that while things like this are a layup for nearly any other president, they are just not Trump's forte. In particular, he's not good when young children are involved. Yes, he has five kids, but they were primarily raised by their mothers and/or nannies, and so he's actually very awkward around kids. Predictably, the President managed to step in it. Connected with a seven-year-old caller, Trump asked, "Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven it's marginal, right?" Inasmuch as the child was calling the NORAD Santa tracker, it's safe to say that yes, he is still a believer in Santa. Or, at least, he was until about 7:00 p.m. on Monday night.
When even Fox News is reporting on the President's slip-ups, you know it's not good. Meanwhile, one wonders if Trump's staff will learn its lesson and stop putting him in these situations. It's been a long time since there's been a chief executive that was so very bad at them. One thinks of Gerald Ford, except his reputation for being awkward in personal interactions was a television creation, and not based in reality. To discover a president who was actually comparable, we probably have to go back to Herbert Hoover. He also managed to step in it on a regular basis. It's probably not a coincidence that both of the businessman-presidents were pretty poor at the things that come naturally to the political pros. (Z)
Trump May Have Ruined a Kid's Christmas
