Trump claims victory against “happy holidays” or something

On this Christmas day, we celebrate the fact that Americans can once again say “Merry Christmas” to one another without fear of being arrested, tarred, feathered, exiled, thrown into a snake pit or lynched by SJWs.

Wait, you’re saying none of those things ever happened, and that no-one was ever prevented from uttering whichever seasonal greeting they like, and that most people don’t give a damn about whether or not they’re wished “happy holidays”?

Well then, someone should inform Trump of this, because he seems to think he’s won some great cultural victory.

President Donald Trump sent out Christmas Eve wishes by praising himself for “leading the charge against the assault” on the phrase “Merry Christmas,” in yet another example of the president claiming to have won a dispute that never really existed.

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. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 25, 2017

Trump has repeatedly hammered on the false notion that American citizens were somehow unable to freely say the season’s greeting until he became president. Even a pro-Trump TV ad thanks the president for ending a war on Christmas that didn’t exist in the first place.

Given that Trump has shown no quarrel with offering generic holiday blessings in the past, it’s a safe bet he doesn’t actually give a damn about which phrase is used either – he’s just pandering to his base, stroking their persecution complex to keep them coming back to daddy Trump for protection against the evil liberals and secularists and non-Christians generally. And if anything will come out of this, it’s that their “cherished and beautiful phrase” is becoming tainted by its association with dunderheads and assholes.

That the sitting President stokes this demagogic fire is bad enough. That millions of voting adults are also celebrating how they can now say a mundane greeting that they were never remotely barred from speaking in the first place is terrifying. It’s time to stop pretending the crazies only make up a small fraction of the US populace.

(via Joe.My.God.)

Edit (12/26/17 @ 8:10 PM ET): Typo fix.