President Joe Biden, or should I say Ebenezer Scrooge, skipped the annual NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Christmas Eve tradition of calling children from the White House and talking about Santa Clause, on Saturday.
The White House announced that the Biden family would be attending a private Christmas Eve mass at the White House, followed by an Italian dinner, noting that all of their activities would be closed to the press.
That included the NORAD Santa call, which presidents have been doing every year since at least 1955.
Biden’s call in 2021 went viral when a father cheered “Let’s Go Brandon” and Biden replied, “Let’s Go Brandon, I agree.” He obviously did not realize that the phrase was a cleaner adaptation of the popular chant, “F*ck Joe Biden.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: Joe Biden was taking calls from the NORAD Santa tracking program and a dad ended the call with "Merry Christmas, and Let's Go Brandon."
Biden replied with: "Let's Go Brandon, I agree" pic.twitter.com/Hc0pLWGRx1
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 24, 2021
It appears that incident may have played a factor in his reluctance to do the call in front of press this year.
Breitbart reports:
The White House also closed press access to the president’s phone calls to members of the military, sending out a notice to reporters that he made the calls, with no public evidence. They called a lid on the president’s activities at 12:30 pm Christmas Day.
Instead of allowing the press to interact with the president, the White House sent out staged photos of the Bidens preparing and celebrating Christmas on social media.
Only Jill Biden was spotted holding a phone handset, sharing on social media that NORAD had spotted Santa Claus. She was also photographed playing with her cat.
She tweeted, “It’s almost time to set out the cookies and get the reindeers’ carrots ready – @NORADCommand just said Santa is on his way to your neighborhood!”
Biden shared a photo of himself standing on a ladder, next to Jill, presumably helping decorate the Christmas tree.
He wrote, “Just a few finishing touches! Hope you and your loved ones are having a great Christmas Eve.”
The official White House account also tweeted a photo of cat Willow and Jill, noting their “holiday cheer.”