A Trump Thanksgiving: tweets, talks with troops
President sanguine on economy, wars
PALM BEACH, Fla. — On Thanksgiving, President Donald Trump celebrated winning.
Early in the morning, he tweeted a list of wins, including the “highest Stock Market EVER,” a reduced unemployment rate and a new Supreme Court justice. A few hours later, he video-chatted with troops stationed around the world and told them that they are now winning because his administration is allowing them to do their jobs and win.
Trump then traveled to a nearby Coast Guard mess hall to hand out sandwiches and commend the military branch for improving its brand over the past few months. Afterward, he stopped by his private golf club in West Palm Beach.
“Our country is doing great,” Trump said, standing behind an overflowing basket of sandwiches in the mess hall. “You folks are fighting so hard, and working so hard. And it’s nice that you’re working for something that’s really starting to work.”
The president’s day started, as most now do, with an early morning tweet.
“HAPPY THANKSGIVING,” Trump tweeted at 6:28 a.m., “your Country is starting to do really well. Jobs coming back, highest Stock Market EVER, Military getting really strong, we will build the WALL, V.A. taking care of our Vets, great Supreme Court Justice, RECORD CUT IN REGS, lowest unemployment in 17 years . . .!”
Nearly three hours later, Trump sat down at a computer screen set up in the lavish living room of Mar-a-Lago, the exclusive club in Palm Beach. On his screen were troops from the five branches of the military who are spending the holiday in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait and out at sea.
“It’s an honor to speak with you all and to give God thanks for the blessing of freedom,” Trump said, often reading from a piece of paper in his hands.
He told those stationed in Afghanistan that “everybody’s talking about the progress you’ve made in the last few months since I opened it up.”
“We opened it up. We said, ‘Go ahead, we’re going to fight to win,’’’ Trump said. “We’re not fighting anymore to just walk around — we’re fighting to win.”
The same thing is happening in Iraq, he said, as he thanked the service members who are fighting the Islamic State terrorist group.
“We’re really winning,” Trump said. “We know how to win — but we have to let you win. They weren’t letting you win before. They weren’t letting you play even. We’re letting you win.”
Trump acknowledged that it’s difficult for these troops to be away from home during the holidays — but he assured them that he’s winning while they are gone.
“The economy is doing really great,” Trump said. “When you come back, you’re going to see with the jobs and the companies coming back into our country and the stock market just hit a record high. Unemployment is the lowest it’s been in 17 years. So you’re fighting for something real, you’re fighting for something good.”