The 103rd National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony featured President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, with Melania lighting a 35-foot red spruce from Virginia’s George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. Trump praised Christians’ influence on America, thanked ICE, Border Patrol, and military—including National Guard members Sarah (deceased) and Andrew (injured)—and claimed the border is "most secure in 28 years" with no illegal crossings in seven months. He tied economic progress to election claims, citing inflation’s end and a thriving economy, while referencing conflicts like Rwanda-Congo (34 years, up to 20M dead) and Russia-Ukraine, framing his absence from past events as evidence of perceived "rigging." The ceremony previewed The Beach Boys’ performance before pivoting to unrelated political promotions. [Automatically generated summary]
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President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump took part in the 103rd annual National Christmas Tree Lighting here in Washington, D.C., kicking off the holiday season in the nation's capital.
The First Lady lit the tree, which the National Park Service said is a 35-foot red spruce from the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest in Virginia.
And it's a beautiful job they did on creating that tree.
It's a beauty.
And let me also recognize Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha.
as well as Secretaries Scott Besant, Pete Hakeseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretaries Doug Bergham and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Administrator Kelly Loeffler, and their wonderful families are doing a fantastic job.
And I see out in the audience the great one, Wayne Gretzky and Janet.
Thank you very much, Wayne, for being here.
He's used to this kind of weather.
Let's also express our gratitude to the great people of the National Park Service.
They're incredible, the job they've done.
As well as the unbelievable performers here tonight.
You're going to see some incredible performers.
And we have in the audience the Beach Boys.
They're great.
During this holy season, Christians everywhere rejoice at the miracle in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago when the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, came down from heaven to be with us.
You're right.
Full of grace and truth, he brought the gift of God's love into the world and the promise of salvation for every person and every nation.
And we just settled another war today.
You saw that with Rwanda and the Congo.
It's been going on for 34 years.
Millions of people killed.
Could be 20 million.
They don't know what the number is, and we just settled it today.
That was a big one.
We're very happy to announce it on this important day.
Tonight, this beautiful evergreen tree glows bright on the dark and cold winter night and reminds us of the words of Gospel of John, in him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Beautiful words.
With the birth of Jesus, human history turned from night to day.
His word and his example call us to love one another, to serve one another, and to honor the sacred truth that every child is specially made in the image of God.
For 250 years, think of it, our country is 250 years is a big year.
I'm so happy that our presidency was delayed.
Otherwise, I'd be sitting home watching television, not being invited.
I would be extremely upset.
And remember, we have not only the 250 years, but we have, this is a big one.
We have the World Cup and we have the Olympics coming up all within this four-year period.
See, if they didn't rig the election, I would have been sitting, because can you imagine?
I wouldn't have any of them.
And I probably wouldn't have been invited.
I would have been very upset by that.
But America has stood tall in part because millions of our citizens have heeded that call and the faith and service of Christians have been essential parts of America's strength from the very, very beginning.
Incredible.
We love the Christians.
We love all religions.
And by the way, religion is coming back to the USA.
You see that very strongly.
So this Christmas season, let me say thank you to everyone who serves the needy and lifts up the communities inspired by faith.
Thank you to the police, law enforcement officers, first responders, ICE, and Border Patrol agents who risk their lives every day to defend the innocent, protect the good, and keep the evil in danger at bay.
And thank you to the men and women of the United States military, including the brave heroes of our National Guard here in Washington, D.C., where we've set a record for lack of crime in 28 years.
So I just want to say we have A great place, and I want to pay my highest respects to those two great guardsmen.
You know who I'm talking about.
They paid in one case the ultimate and the other.
Andrew is getting better.
Sarah, unfortunately, is watching from a high, watching from heaven.
Parents are so incredible.
And Andrew is hopefully getting better.
He got hit hard defending us, and I just want to pay my respects to them, two incredible people, unbelievable people.
I spoke with the parents and met the parents today, the parents of Andrew, and they have spirit and they love our country so much you wouldn't believe.
But as a nation, we have much to be grateful for.
On this holiday season, our border is secure.
Our spirit is restored.
Most secure border we've ever had in the history of our country.
Seven months, and nobody has come in illegally into our country.
Nobody, not one.
Our economy is thriving.
Inflation has stopped.
Our nation is strong.
And America is back bigger and better, stronger, better than ever before.
Think of it.
And we're making peace all over the world.
We're settling wars at levels that nobody's ever seen before.
Eight of them.
We're looking for one more.
That's Russia-Ukraine, if that's possible.
And I think we'll get there eventually.
Last week, 8,000 soldiers killed last month.
They had 27,000 soldiers needlessly killed.
We've got to get that stopped.
We're working very hard on it.
Just over one year ago, our country was in very, very serious trouble.
The king of Saudi Arabia said to me very strongly, Sir, one year ago, your country was dead.
Now you have the strongest and hottest country anywhere in the world.
Can you imagine?
We did this in 10 months.
What a difference.
And it's true.
Everybody feels that, and all leaders feel that.
So as we prepare to celebrate the miracle of Christmas, we thank God for his many blessings.
And together we rejoice at the true source of greatness, happiness, and strength.
The good news is the glorious nights.
2,000 years ago, think of it, 2,000 years ago, it was indeed a glorious night.
So I want to thank everybody here.
I want to pay my deepest respect and love to all of our great citizens, like 350 million people.
We love them all.
Whether you like them or not, we love them all.
We want to take care of everybody.
We have to take care of everybody in our country.
I want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and have a good time.
And you're going to see some great entertainment.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Merry Christmas.
Happy Hanukkah.
Happy New Year.
Thank you, everybody.
unidentified
Thank you.
Today, it's the International LGBTQ Plus Leaders Conference.
Our live coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 2, where female state attorneys general and former White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre will discuss their approach to equality and justice.
And at 1 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, NGO leaders and local government officials will speak about health equity and discuss the 2025 honorees for the LGBTQ Plus Political Hall of Fame.
And just before 3 p.m. Eastern, former President Joe Biden will give the keynote address.
You can also watch on C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
Today on C-SPAN's ceasefire, at a time when finding common ground matters most in Washington, host Dasha Burns sits down with Democratic California Congressman Roe Khanna and Republican Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon for a bipartisan dialogue on the top issues facing the country,