7-year-old says Trump's comments didn't shake her belief in Santa, she doesn't know what 'marginal' means


On Christmas Eve, President Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, fielded phone calls from children who had called the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to check on Santa Claus' progress. One of the callers patched through to the president was 7-year-old Collman Lloyd of Lexington, South Carolina. "Are you still a believer in Santa?" Trump asked the girl. "Yes, sir," she said, and Trump continued: "Because at 7, that's marginal, right?"
The president casting doubt on a girl's belief in Santa Claus caused quite the stir on social media on Christmas Day, but everything was apparently relatively normal in the Lloyd household.
"I was like, 'wow,' I was shocked," Collman told The Post and Courier of Charleston, describing her call with Trump. "It wasn't really (nerve-wracking), I just had to think of what the truth was." She said she'd never heard the word "marginal" before. Collman and her 10-year-old sister and 5-year-old brother put out Christmas cookies for Santa, there were only crumbs in the morning, and she got the American Girl doll she'd asked for, she added, so Santa is real.
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If she had the chance to talk to Trump again, Collman said, she would ask him about his family. "I would like to ask if he has any kids," she said. "I've honestly never heard of them or seen any of them so I was wondering."
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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