Happy holidays! Across the 12 days of Christmas one very keen individual once gifted their lover a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight maids a-milking, nine ladies dancing, 10 lords a-leaping, 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming.
An extravagant expression of what was allegedly “true love”, the spree amounted to a total of 364 presents – more if you include the eggs that the geese a-laid.
It got me wondering: what’s Donald Trump given us? Let’s see.
• 12 – number of hours Trump has worked each day recently, according to the White House. The Trump administration gave “Oval Office logs” to the New York Post – a Trump-friendly outlet – on 2 December, aiming to bat away a report by the New York Times that noted Trump’s schedule was lighter than during in his first term.
The next day Trump appeared to fall asleep during a cabinet meeting.
• 11 – “Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history. There has never been anything like it,” Trump claimed in a speech at the White House in December.
• 10 (billion dollars) – the amount Trump is seeking in damages from the BBC. His lawyers accuse the British broadcaster of “deceptively doctoring his speech” at the US Capitol before the January 6 insurrection. The documentary spliced together two parts of the speech; the BBC has apologized for the edit but said it will defend itself against the suit. Somewhat confusingly, Trump has claimed the BBC “used AI” to “put terrible words in my mouth”, something which did not happen and is not mentioned in the complaint.
• 9(99) – How many people Trump has said the new White House ballroom will seat. Officials initially said the ballroom would cost $200m, then revised that number up to $300m in October. In December, Trump said the new estimate was $400m. He has said the ballroom will be paid for by donors, sparking ethics concerns.
• 8 – lines of dialogue in the imagined conversation between Trump and Epstein, contained within a drawing of a woman’s body, which appeared in Epstein’s 50th birthday book. Trump denies writing the message.
• 7(%) – the portion of Americans who say the cost of living where they live is not very affordable or not affordable at all, according to a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Some 61% of respondents said the economy was not working well for them personally, compared with just 39% who said it was.
• 6 – how many Democratic lawmakers Trump accused of “seditious behavior, publishable by death”, in November, after they posted a video in which they told active service members they should refuse illegal orders. The president also reposted a comment to Truth Social which said: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
Asked in a press conference if Trump wants to “execute members of Congress”, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said he did not.
• 5 – the number of major US cities where Trump had deployed federal troops by late November. Trump sent the national guard into Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Memphis and Portland – all Democratic-run cities – claiming they were needed to combat crime. In December, Trump said the national guard would be deployed in New Orleans “in a few weeks”.
• 4 – how many years since unemployment in the US was as high as it was in December: 4.6% of Americans are unemployed.
• 3 – times Trump has appeared to fall asleep during official events over the last two months. In November, he seemed to slumber in a meeting in the Oval Office – the same thing happened during a cabinet meeting in early December, and again at an event to reclassify marijuana at the White House.
“President Trump was listening attentively and running the entire three-hour marathon cabinet meeting,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said after the second incident.
• 2 – Trump remains the only president to be impeached twice, although in his defense, he is yet to be impeached during his second term.
• 1 – Trump’s ranking among all 45 US presidents, according to his communications director, Steven Cheung, who told the New York Times in December: “The fact remains that President Trump is the best president in our country’s history, while Sleepy Joe Biden will go down as the worst.”
Historians disagree. A Siena College survey of 141 presidential scholars, published in 2022, ranked Trump 43rd.
