This week a video of President Donald Trump went viral when he asked a 7-year-old if she still believed in Santa.
On Christmas Eve, President Trump, alongside First Lady Melania, intercepted calls from the NORAD Tracks Santa program to talk to the children. At one point, Trump spoke with a little girl about Santa, which resulted in an explosive response from across the Twittersphere.
Donald Trump, answering phone call from 7-year-old on Christmas Eve: "Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven it's marginal, right?" pic.twitter.com/VHexvFSbQ1
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 25, 2018
According to the Post and Courier newspaper, Collman Lloyd, a seven-year-old girl from Lexington, South Carolina, called the NORAD Tracks Santa program to get an update on Santa’s progress. The scientist who answered her 6:30 pm phone call asked if she would like to speak to the President, to which she excitedly agreed.
Six minutes later, President Trump was on the line and the girl’s Christmas was almost immediately thrown into peril.
“Are you still a believer in Santa?” asked the President, who listened to her response, before adding, “because at 7, it’s marginal, right?”
After hearing out Collman for a minute, the Commander-in-Chief concluded the call with, “You just go enjoy yourself.”
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Minutes later, the video was up on Twitter and was a viral hit in minutes.
Many different news outlets shared the story, accusing Trump of ruining the girls Christmas, with Twitter users echoing the same sentiment.
Lol it's even worse with video! ??
Trump to seven year old that called in to talk to Santa: "Are you still a believer in Santa? Because at seven it's marginal, right?"
You just can't make this up!pic.twitter.com/VaGl47Rx5Y
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) December 25, 2018
Add stealing a childhood to Trump's list of crimes.
— Bill Wong (@ten24get) December 25, 2018
At least this kid’s “how I found out Santa wasn’t real” story will be interesting https://t.co/8SvfyUb1fY
— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) December 25, 2018
But following the supposedly insensitive call, Collman and her parents spoke out to set the record straight.
Speaking to the Post and Courier, the young girl recalled that she answered: “Yes, sir” to Trump’s questions, although she admitted that she didn’t know what “marginal” meant.
“I was like, ‘wow’ I was shocked,” Collman told the outlet.
“It wasn’t really [nerve-wracking], I just had to think of what the truth was,” she said with regards to her now famed conversation with the President.
Donald J. Lloyd, Collman’s forty-year-old dad, told Buzzfeed that people were making a big deal out of a fairly normal conversation, noting that it was “blown out of proportion and unfairly politicized.”
He added that he actually talks to his children about Santa in the same manner as the President did.
“I think it’s crazy it became a big deal. It’s Christmastime. I’d love to keep politics out of Christmas,” Donald said. “It didn’t bother me — I like to talk to my kids like adults.”
Collman’s mother also chimed in, saying that she was actually very impressed with the phone call.
“I’m a teacher. I’m OK with the vocabulary. He was very kind,” she said. “I was very impressed with the phone call.”
Erica added how much the family loved the call, and how it made her daughter’s Christmas a very special one indeed.
“He said, ‘Happy Christmas … It was great speaking to you, Collman … Please tell [your family] I wish them a happy Christmas,'” Erica explained. “It made her Christmas.”
Collman also added in the Buzzfeed interview that she does still, in fact, believe in Santa, despite what those on the internet have been saying.