Trump’s Christmas Eve: Calls to troops, Santa talk
PALM BEACH (AP) — US President Donald Trump’s first Christmas Eve in office was a busy one that unfolded like this: tweet against perceived adversaries, cheer US troops spending the holidays overseas, play golf, participate in North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa Tracker phone calls with children, eat dinner with the family and attend a church service.
“Today and every day, we’re incredibly thankful for you and for your families,” Trump told the troops via video hook-up from his Florida estate, where he is spending the holidays with his family. “Your families have been tremendous. Always underappreciated, the military families. The greatest people on Earth.”
Trump briefly addressed members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard stationed in Qatar, Kuwait and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and patrolling the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.
Vice President Mike Pence rallied US troops stationed in Afghanistan during a surprise visit last week.
Trump complimented each branch of the armed forces, starting with the Army’s “Iron Brigade” combat team in Kuwait, which he said is performing a “vital mission” by partnering with the Iraqi, Kuwaiti, Saudi Arabian and Jordanian armies.
He said a Kuwait-based, Marine Corps air-ground task force has provided more than 4,000 flight hours of close air support in the campaign against the Islamic State group, and he thanked sailors aboard the USS Sampson for defending “high-value assets” in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also singled out the Air Force’s 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron in Qatar for engaging more than 700 IS and Taliban targets in five separate countries and winning two trophies in an Air Force bomb competition.
He showered the most praise on the Coast Guard, which impressed him with its rescue operations during a devastating hurricane season.
“You’ve done such an incredible job in Texas and Florida and Puerto Rico,” Trump said. “Many Republicans are very happy but, I have to tell you, the people of Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and lots of other states are even more happy. What a job you’ve done ... saved thousands and thousands of lives,” he said.