President Donald Trump caused the name of a holiday to trend on social media over the weekend ― just not the one most Americans are about to celebrate.
Speaking at an event to honor veterans and celebrate faith just days ahead of Independence Day, Trump brought up Christmas.
“I remind you that we’re going to start staying ‘Merry Christmas’ again,” the president said at the “Celebrate Freedom” event at the Kennedy Center on Saturday night.
Trump was speaking about the role of faith in American politics, including the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom, when he fired off what might be the earliest-ever salvo in the so-called “war on Christmas.”
While many of his followers were filled with the holiday spirit ― in July ― others were mystified by the random shoutout to a holiday still nearly six months off, causing #MerryChristmas to rise like Santa’s sleigh through Twitter’s list of trending topics: