Declares victory in 'War on Christmas' at Values Voter Summit - months before Christmas

Trump became the first sitting president to address the Values Voter Summit, an annual gathering of evangelical conservatives. He used the October platform to prematurely declare victory in the manufactured 'War on Christmas.' 'We're getting near that beautiful Christmas season that people don't talk about anymore,' Trump told the crowd. 'They don't use the word Christmas because it's not politically correct... Guess what? We're saying Merry Christmas again.' The crowd roared. Trump also announced, 'We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values.' The declaration - two months before Christmas - showed how the grievance had become evergreen for his evangelical base. Fact-checkers noted no one had ever banned the phrase, and stores had continued using 'Merry Christmas' throughout the Obama administration.

"Guess what? We're saying Merry Christmas again." — Values Voter Summit, Washington DC, October 13, 2017