The Conversation (0)
Sirena Bergman
Dec 27, 2020
Trump Jr has shocked and horrified viewers with his Christmas Day address on Facebook Live.
The president’s son, who famously loves social media as much if not more than his dad, popped over to Facebook on Friday for a five-and-a-half-minute address to his 3.4 million followers.
In the video, he appears in front of his tree alongside his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who he’s been dating since his divorce in 2018.
He begins by wishing everyone a merry Christmas, and goes on to list all the things he’s grateful for, and people he’s grateful to. But throughout what he had perhaps planned as a monologue, Guilfoyle interjects to remind him of the bits that may have slipped his mind.
It goes something like this:
Trump Jr: We wanna be thankful for all of our blessings…
Guilfoyle: All of our blessings!
Trump Jr: Just being Americans, and living in this incredible country–
Guilfoyle: All your love and support.
Trump Jr: Wanna thank all the great servicemen and women of our armed services who don’t get to spend their Christmas with their families…
Guilfoyle: And our veterans.
Trump Jr: Our veterans, everyone, so–
Guilfoyle: Law enforcement, first responders…
Trump Jr: Right.
It’s a slightly odd exchange, unclear whether they’re reading from a script or constantly trying to one-up each other with their gratefulness. But what comes next is even stranger, and has left people across the internet in disbelief.
Trump Jr basically tries to say he’s grateful for Guilfoyle, but perhaps in sarcasm or an attempt at humour ends up being grossly disrespectful, saying:
“And I’m reasonably thankful for Kimberly. Maybe not… not so much, I don’t wanna, you know, I’ve managed to maintain a very low bar with Kimberly, so I don’t want her to get, you know, too big an ego, accustomed to kindness. I wanna keep her tough, I wanna keep her tough, although I don’t think we have anything to worry about with that."
The rest of the video is a bizarre ramble about how great Kimberly is at telling Trump Jr what he shouldn’t tweet, and railing against “media and big tech”, saying he knows he’s doing well because he’s being "censored" and “kicked off platforms” but also bragging about getting a “ridiculous amount of engagement”. He then once again says how grateful he is to his followers and that’s pretty much it, but you can watch the entire thing here if you really really want to.
The clip went immediately viral, with people calling it “tone deaf” and “embarrassing”, and saying he “humiliated” her.
People bemoaned the fact that they found themselves feeling sympathy towards Guilfoyle, who has been supportive of the Trump administration.
And thought the mentality displayed was reminiscent of the president.
Since the video was posted yesterday afternoon on Twitter, it’s been viewed 2.9 million times, and it’s fair to say no one’s jumping to his defence.
Trump Jr is the president’s eldest child. He works for the Trump Organisation and has been active in his father’s presidential campaigns, often speaking out on Instagram and Facebook in support of thee president’s policies. He has been criticised for spreading conspiracy theories and stoking violence in the face of his father’s defeat in the 2020 election.
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