The White House Runs an 8-Hour Stream Urging Praise for Trump — Only for It to Backfire as Fans Focus on the Creepy Background
The White House intended to celebrate the holiday season by reflecting on the past year with a Christmas-themed livestream that backfired after viewers noticed the animated presentation of President Donald Trump.
Amid longstanding rumors about the MAGA leader’s reading ability, his staff set up a continuous video that displayed a laundry list of supposed successes achieved by the president over the past 11 months, though no one asked.
“Christmas Lo-fi 2025 MAGA Victories” is over eight hours long and can be viewed on YouTube, X, and other online platforms.
The livestream shows a cartoon version of Trump, 79, reading a book while dressed in a red Christmas sweater. He is seated beside a fireplace near stockings, a decorated Christmas tree, and gift-wrapped presents.
Low-fidelity music, a genre that is often used for relaxation, served as the nonstop soundtrack for the White House’s stream. Once news of the Trump/lo-fi crossover reached Threads, the president was met with ridicule and disdain.
“For the past eight hours, the White House has been live-streaming this really weird lo-fi music video on YouTube that features a cartoon Donald Trump sitting by a Christmas tree, reading a book while his ‘accomplishments’ scroll on the left side of the screen. Your tax dollars paid for this,” one Threads user laid out, alongside a clip of the stream.
Someone in the replies jokingly responded, “And the book is upside down, and there are no words in it – only pictures. He’s not reading anything, he’s just talking to himself.”
“Who is he supposed to be reading [to]? Is he sounding out the words?” a person on the app sarcastically asked, which led to someone answering, “It’s a picture book.”
The White House team’s tactic of using Christmas as a backdrop to push pro-Trump propaganda was slammed, too. One Threads post read, “Just weird … and none of his people even see how crazy this is.”
Another said, “What is this? His base will love it! They love everything about him because he allows them to be as morally bankrupt as he is. Anyone with common sense and the ability for independent thinking just sees this for what it is: Weird. Delusional. Unfitting for the President. Making America Gag Again.”
Unconfirmed speculation about Trump possibly having below-average reading skills has been circulating for nearly a decade. Back in 2016, “Saturday Night Live” alum Pete Davidson shared an anecdote about the former “The Apprentice” reality show star that further fueled the gossip.
“He doesn’t know how to read,” Davidson, 32, said in an interview with Opie Radio. The comedian then recalled how, when Trump served as a guest host on “SNL” in 2015, the show’s cast and crew were shocked when the Queens-bred businessman struggled during the table reading for the episode.
Davidson also added, “This was my favorite part. There was a sketch we wrote where he’s at Disneyland with his daughter, and the line is, ‘Alright, let’s get out of here. Turkey legs?’ And he doesn’t know how to read, so he went, ‘Alright, let’s get out of here, turkey legs.’”
Trump allegedly calling his daughter in the sketch “turkey legs” after misreading the script caused the “SNL” staff to mockingly laugh at him, which the University of Pennsylvania graduate supposedly again misread as them laughing at his punchline.
Even former insiders from the Trump camp have suggested that the native New Yorker does not enjoy reading. His then-chief economic adviser in the first term, Gary Cohn, is quoted as saying, “Trump won’t read anything — not one-page memos, not the brief policy papers, nothing.”
In more recent times, Trump continues to face questions about whether he is actually illiterate following various public appearances that required him to read on camera. On Dec. 17, he addressed the nation from the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, again surrounded by a Christmas motif background.
On multiple occasions, Trump had difficulty reading the text on the teleprompter, causing him to stumble over his words and mispronounce terms. At one point, he verbalized “mayhem” as “mahim.” He later had trouble saying the number 1,450,000.
These latest gaffes have not only led to close attention being placed on Trump’s reading proficiency, but the mishaps have also generated widespread interest in the state of the commander-in-chief’s mental and physical health as he approaches 80 years of age.
