Trump invents war on Thanksgiving during self-described 'ranting and raving'

Donald Trump said during a Tuesday night rally that he would oppose efforts to change the name of the Thanksgiving holiday, despite the nonexistence of any effort to do so in America.

Trump made his comments during a long and meandering speech in Florida that he himself described as “ranting and raving” to his supporters.

“You know, some people want to change the name ‘Thanksgiving,’ they don’t want to use the term ‘Thanksgiving,'” Trump claimed. “And that was true also with Christmas but now everybody’s using Christmas again, remember I said that? But now we’re going to have to do a little work on Thanksgiving, people have different ideas, why it shouldn’t be called Thanksgiving but everybody in this room I know loves the name ‘Thanksgiving,’ and we’re not changing it.”

There is no effort to change the name of the Thanksgiving holiday. Trump’s allies at the conservative Fox News Channel even acknowledged this fact on Wednesday morning.

“I don’t think anyone’s trying to do that?” asked anchor Brian Kilmeade during a segment reviewing Trump’s speech.

By raising the invented story at his rally, Trump becomes the one who has now injected politics and acrimony into a national holiday enjoyed across the political spectrum.

Trump’s made-up Thanksgiving story echoes the completely invented “war on Christmas” over which he has repeatedly declared victory in the past.

“We’re saying Merry Christmas again,” Trump told activists at the “Values Voters” conference of the religious right in late 2017, claiming, “They don’t use the word ‘Christmas,’ because it’s not politically correct.”

The “war on Christmas” was made up by Fox News and Trump was parroting the network, just like he has on the border wall and supporting accused war criminals. There was never a war on Christmas, or any other holiday, but he has continually sought praise for that fight nonetheless.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.