Donald Trump canceled the White House Christmas party for the press and WH correspondents. That wasn’t a huge surprise, considering he hates the fourth estate and he’s a wannabe fascist. I thought the cancellation was mostly about how Trump is petty and thin-skinned and he can’t stand it when the press criticize him. But what if there’s an added layer to Bah Humbug Bigly? What if he just HATES Christmas?

By the 26th, Donald Trump will have attended 21 Christmas parties, clocking in at more than 52 hours of festivities in total, or about ten percent of his waking hours this month. This is the life of a modern president of the United States in the month of December — and Donald Trump hates every minute of it. While he is known to enjoy hosting large social events and rallies, current and former White House staffers say he regards presidential Christmas parties with a special loathing and goes out of his way to escape early. Making Christmas great again may have been a pillar of his presidential campaign — “We’re going to start saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again,” he often promised — but the war on Christmas is now raging inside of him.

One person close to the White House told me, “it makes perfect sense” that Trump hates the entire production surrounding Christmas, “because it’s not about him!” This person added, “If it were about him, he’d love it. Christmas is not about him.”

“It’s just a lot,” a senior White House official told me. “They’re hosting all these people, half of whom they don’t know,” the official said. “He just gets impatient. He likes to go go go. Sitting through things, he gets restless.”

While shaking hands with guests and standing for photos at another party last year, Trump spotted Mike Pence in the crowd. According to a second White House official, he forced the vice-president to take his place. “He and Melania left and subbed in the vice-president for the photo line,” the second official said. To keep Trump’s Christmas spirit intact this year, few parties besides those held for the Secret Service and law enforcement feature a formal photo line. “He definitely gets impatient with the photo taking because that is literally, at times, two hours of standing there and taking pictures,” the senior White House official told me. “And because he is the ultimate host, he talks between clicks.”

“I wouldn’t characterize it like he’s a grumpy Grinch. I would characterize it that they are given a lot to do,” the senior White House official said, adding that the president has never complained about hosting or taking photos with members of law enforcement or Secret Service agents. The second White House official said that the parties are better without the line for pictures, anyway, and surely nobody could blame a person for preferring not to spend several hours greeting a procession of mostly strangers: “He’s kind of a germaphobe, so I heard that was a concern, too.”

[From New York Magazine]

I started out thinking “of course he behaves like an a–hole” and then when they kept going on and on about how many handshakes and photos any given president has to do, I’ll admit it – I can see how that would irritate even the most gracious of hosts. That being said, clearly Trump hates Christmas. Donald Scrooge, Ebenezer Baby Fists, The Ghost of Christmas Fascism, take your pick. Trump would rather be at Mar-a-Lago, eating a cheeseburger and ignoring his family.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.