
Trump shares a social media post attacking “radical left-wing lunatics” and saying Canada could become the 51st state in the United States.
Outgoing and incoming US presidents had different Christmas holiday messages, with Democrat Joe Biden urging Americans to reflect and unite, while Republican Donald Trump offered a holiday greeting and then targeted his political opponents.
Biden recounted a video tour of White House Christmas decorations posted on YouTube late on Christmas Eve on Tuesday, in which he urged Americans to put aside “all the noise and all that divides us.”
“We are here on this earth to take care of each other, to love each other,” Biden said in a voiceover as the camera panned past evergreen trees and fireplaces inside the White House. “Too often we see each other as enemies, not as neighbors, not as American citizens,” he said.
Biden urged Americans to find a moment of “quiet contemplation” to remind themselves to treat each other with dignity and respect, to “live in the light” and to remember that there is more that unites Americans than divides Americans. “We are truly blessed to live in this nation,” he said.
Trump posted a mid-morning “Merry Christmas” message on Truth Social on Christmas Day Wednesday with a photo of himself and his wife, Melania, followed by more than two dozen retweets of articles or other social media posts supporting his policy positions. On topics including Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and his quest for Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Later, Trump posted a longer message titled “Happy Birthday” in which he claimed Chinese soldiers were manning the Panama Canal, and criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Biden and the Democrats.
“Merry Christmas to the far-left lunatics who continually try to obstruct our court system and our elections,” Trump wrote. “They know their only chance of survival is to get a pardon from a man who has no idea what he is doing.”
“Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose citizens’ taxes are very high, but if Canada became our 51st state, their taxes would be reduced by more than 60 percent,” Trump wrote.
Biden took office in 2021 promising to “end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal,” and said he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in July to unify the country.
Democrats under Biden lost all battleground states and both chambers of Congress in the November elections.
By some measures, polarization in the country has increased, including during the 2024 campaign that saw Biden take on Trump, once again, before Kamala Harris took the Democratic nomination before ultimately losing the presidential election.
Trump has called for the prosecution of political enemies, a US takeover of the Panama Canal, and pledged to restructure the federal government.