That Girl Still Believes in Santa, Despite Trump’s Phone Call

It sounds like Trump didn't ruin the magic of Santa Claus for that young girl who called into the Santa Tracker on Christmas Eve after all—because she didn't understand what the word "marginal" meant, AP reports.

On Monday evening, seven-year-old Collman Lloyd called into the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa Tracker to find out where St. Nick was and when he'd make his way over to her South Carolina town. Lloyd's call wound up getting routed to Trump, who was keeping up the annual presidential tradition of manning the phones on Christmas Eve—but their chat was, uh, "marginal" at best.

First, Trump asked Lloyd if she was "still a believer in Santa," even though, you know, she called into a goddamn Santa Tracker in the first place. When she said she was, he added, "because at seven, that's marginal, right?"

"I was like, ‘wow,’" the girl told the Post and Courier in an interview after the awkward Christmas call was widely savaged online. "I was shocked. It wasn’t really [nerve-wracking], I just had to think of what the truth was."

Luckily, the truth was that she did believe—and still does. It turns out that Trump's Scroogian line of questioning didn't cue Lloyd into the fact that Santa might not be real, because she didn't understand what the word "marginal" meant.

The Post and Courier said that Lloyd and her siblings, a 10-year-old sister and five-year-old brother, left cookies and milk out before bed and, when they woke up, the snack was gone and presents were waiting under the tree, proving to Lloyd that Santa had really come and gone.

As for Lloyd, she told the newspaper that she'd like to ask Trump about his kids if she ever had the chance to chat with him again. "Most people know this question. I would like to ask if he has any kids," Lloyd said. "I’ve honestly never heard of them or seen any of them so I was wondering."

Let's hope for her sake that doesn't happen since the longer you can go without learning about the existence of Eric and the Fredo of the Trump family, the better. Besides, he'd inevitably wind up spoiling the Tooth Fairy or something, too.

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