Donald Trump on Wednesday bragged holiday retail sales were up 3.4 per cent over last year – a day after he told U.S. service members he still hadn’t got wife Melania a Christmas present.
‘2019 HOLIDAY RETAIL SALES WERE UP 3.4% FROM LAST YEAR, THE BIGGEST NUMBER IN U.S. HISTORY. CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!,’ the president tweeted in all capital letters on Christmas Day, which he is spending at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The White House did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s inquiry as to whether President Trump purchased a gift for the first lady.
Donald Trump bragged holiday retail sales were up 3.4 per cent over last year
The White House did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s inquiry as to whether President Trump ended up purchasing Melania Trump a gift
Meanwhile, total U.S. retail sales from November 1 through Christmas Eve rose 3.4 per cent over last year, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Thanksgiving happened six days later this year, which shortened the holiday shopping season and may have sparked a sense of urgency among shoppers.
Super Saturday – which is the last Saturday before Christmas – set record sales, reaching $34.4 billion, the biggest single day in U.S. retail history, according to Bloomberg News.
Trump had told troops in a video call Tuesday that he still hasn’t gotten a gift for his wife – just hours before Christmas Day.
‘Oh, that’s a tough question,’ Trump said when an intelligence analyst asked what he got the first lady for Christmas.
‘I got her a beautiful card that – actually I had a number of them picked and I picked the nicest one,’ the president told military officials during a video call from Mar-a-Lago. ‘And I think I’ll answer that by saying, I’m still working on the Christmas present. Is that OK?’
He also lauded his relationship with the first lady and the rest of his family, despite reports indicating the president and his wife don’t sleep in the same bed, claiming that he got her ‘a lot of love’ for Christmas.
‘We love our family and we love each other and we’ve had a great relationship like you do hopefully with your spouses, we’ve had a great relationship,’ Trump said to the troops in his Christmas Eve call.
Donald Trump told troops in a video call Christmas Eve that he got first lady Melanie Trump a card but hasn’t gotten her a present yet
I picked the nicest one,’ the president told military officials during a video call from Mar-a-Lago. ‘And I think I’ll answer that by saying, I’m still working on the Christmas present. Is that ok?’
He thanked the soldier for reminding him about getting a Christmas gift for his wife, and said he would get ‘working on that real fast’
Trump claimed he and Melania gave each other ‘a lot of love’ for Christmas, even though reports indicate a rocky relationship where the two don’t even sleep in the same bed
In his call with the troops, Trump also answered a question if Home Alone 2 is his favorite Christmas movie. ‘It’s a big Christmas hit – one of the biggest. So it’s an honor to be involved in something like that, you always like to see success,’ he responded
Trump made a cameo in the 1992 hit where he gave Kevin McAllister, who spent the Christmas season in New York City alone, directions to the lobby of the Plaza
‘There’s a little time left. Not too much, but there’s a little time left,’ he continued. ‘You made me think, I’m gonna have to start working on that real fast.’
A sergeant asked the president a follow-up Christmas-related: If Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, is his favorite Christmas movie.
‘Well I’m in Home Alone 2,’ Trump said of the 1992 classic and was met with laughter from the group on the video call.
Trump makes a cameo appearance in the sequel to Home Alone, where this time pre-teen Kevin McCallister accidentally gets on a plane to New York while the rest of his family goes to Florida.
When he arrives in New York he gets scared by a woman in Central Park and runs to the Plaza Hotel, where he asks Donald Trump for directions to the lobby.
‘A lot of people mention it every year, especially around Christmas,’ Trump said of the movie. ‘They say – especially young kids – they say, ‘I just saw you on the movie.’ They don’t see me on television as they do in the movie.’
‘But it’s been a good movie and I was a little bit younger, to put it mildly,’ he continued to laughter and lauded the success of the film. ‘And it was an honor to do it. And it turned out to be a very big hit, obviously. It’s a big Christmas hit – one of the biggest. So it’s an honor to be involved in something like that, you always like to see success.’
Trump and Melania are spending the Christmas season, extended through the new year, in Florida where they stay in the Mar-a-Lago resort and Trump is able to golf nearly every day at his West Palm Beach golf club.