From his presidential campaign to now, President Trump has made it quite clear that he is an advocate for the celebration of Christmas. One of his campaign promises was to fight what he calls the “war on Christmas“, which, essentially, is a made-up political issue characterized solely by saying the phrase “Happy Holidays” in lieu of “Merry Christmas”. Yesterday, on Christmas, Trump took to Twitter to claim success in fighting against this “war on Christmas” and was not hesitant to reward himself for his leadership in the cause.
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 only focuses on the most serious national issues, right?
But a very valid question remains: why does Trump care? Why does this simple change in terminology by some aimed at inclusivity of various religions matter so much to Trump?
Well, he initially adopted fighting back against this “war on Christmas” to win over Christian evangelicals on the campaign trail. If he could convince Christians that the left is attacking their most loved holiday and that he is fighting to preserve it, he could easily secure their vote in the 2016 presidential election. And honestly, it worked. He managed to win the majority of the Protestant and Catholic votes and secured a whopping 81% of white evangelical’s votes. I hate to admit it, but this wise strategy from the Trump campaign definitely helped give him an edge in the 2016 election. However, Trump’s superficial dedication to Christianity doesn’t go much further than his disdain for the made-up “war on Christmas”.
It seems like Trump pretended to care about defending Christianity to win over a demographic in the election. While it may have initially worked as he continues to aimlessly fight the phrase “Happy Holidays”, his Christian supporters may begin to dwindle as they realize he doesn’t uphold the true aspects of Christianity. In fact, much of what Trump does goes against what Christianity teaches. In particular, Trump really isn’t doing much to help the low-income citizens. His persistent attempts to dismantle Obamacare will continue to hurt the poor, and the newly passed tax bill will hurt those who make less money. In fact, in 2019, those who make less than $30,000 a year will be worse off than any other group.
Although it’s not always consistently upheld by all Christians, supporting those who are financially disadvantaged is a core belief of the Christian faith. In fact, the Bible is full of quotes about how we need to lift up the poor. “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And countless other. Did Trump skip these verses when he was reading the Bible, or did he just never read it in the first place?
Regardless, Trump’s lack of commitment to Christianity is evident. Beyond his fight against the “war on Christmas”, he’s essentially done nothing truly Christian. Will this hurt him in the long run in terms of losing Christian voters? It’s too early to tell. However, we will see how the next few years go in terms of helping low-income citizens. Hopefully, Trump does better to bring about economic justice, but I won’t be getting my hopes up.
