Trump promises to guard against “bad Santa” and touts “clean, beautiful coal” in Christmas Eve calls with kids

President Trump spent part of Christmas Eve bantering with kids about their Christmas lists, updating families about Santa Claus’ whereabouts and reminding one child who wavered on leaving out cookies that the big guy has a “serious appetite.”

The president and first lady Melania Trump, who are at Mar-a-Lago for the holidays, fielded calls that were routed through the North American Aerospace Defense Command, whose annual Santa-tracking hotline received nearly 400,000 calls last year. NORAD also runs an online service that logs Santa’s route across the globe.

Asked by one 10-year-old from Oklahoma how NORAD keeps track of St. Nick, the president said, “We track Santa all over the world. We want to make sure that Santa is being good.”

Mr. Trump continued: “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. So we found out that Santa is good.”

That child’s 4-year-old sister told the president that she wants a dollhouse for Christmas. Mr. Trump predicted that she’ll get what she’s looking for, telling her mother, “I think we can work that out.”

“We owe a lot to Santa, so I think Santa will fulfill your wish,” he said.

Later on, as NORAD showed Santa passing somewhere over Sweden, the president told an 8-year-old from Kansas wondering when St. Nick would arrive at her home that he should “make it in record time, probably in about 5 hours.”

The Kansan told the president she didn’t want to end up with coal under the Christmas tree. Mr. Trump responded with one of his oft-repeated slogans: “You mean clean, beautiful coal?”

A 10-year-old and a 6-year-old told the president they want a Kindle reader and a pinball machine, respectively. The president was impressed by both gifts.

“You know Elton John? He did ‘Pinball Wizard,'” Mr. Trump said, referencing a tune that was originally performed by The Who, but covered by John for the film adaptation of their album “Tommy.” “We’ll have to send you a copy of ‘Pinball Wizard.'”

To the reader, Mr. Trump said: “Oh wow, that’s pretty good. You must be a high-IQ person. We need more high-IQ people in the country.”

Tempting fate, one 8-year-old from North Carolina asked Mr. Trump if Santa will get upset if she doesn’t leave out milk and cookies the night before Christmas.

The president’s advice?

“I would leave them. I think Santa has a serious appetite.”

Mr. Trump said earlier in the call: “He won’t get mad, but I think he’ll be very disappointed. Santa’s — he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side. I think Santa would like some cookies.”

NORAD has tracked Santa’s progress every Christmas Eve since 1955 — and the past few presidents have taken a handful of the Colorado-based military command’s calls.

In 2018, Mr. Trump asked one 7-year-old if she still believes in Santa. When she answered in the affirmative, he joked: “Because at 7, that’s marginal, right?”

And three years later, a father ended his call with former President Joe Biden by saying “let’s go Brandon,” using a coded insult for the then-president. Biden responded: “Let’s go Brandon, I agree.”

During this year’s event, the president spent about 20 minutes taking calls from families, followed by a series of calls to U.S. military service members who are on duty over the holiday. 

Mr. Trump later penned a Christmas Eve message on Truth Social that struck a less conciliatory tone, with attacks on the “Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country” and references to this week’s stronger-than-expected GDP numbers.

Mr. Trump also briefly touted the GDP report at one point between Santa-tracking calls, but he conceded: “I don’t think the kids are too interested in that.”