Trump tells kid he tracks Santa to make sure he doesn't 'infiltrate' the US in bizarre phone call

Donald Trump has received a lot of criticism online after his phone call with a child on Christmas Eve did the rounds on social media.

The US President has had quite the year, which began with his second term and included several crackdowns on various issues.

Whether it be the 'doomsday' tariffs which were brought in this spring, or the controversial mass deportations carried out by his administration, or his signing for the US Justice Department (DOJ) to release the entirety of the Jeffrey Epstein files, in which he appeared sparingly, along with several other famous faces.

However, this doesn't suggest any wrongdoing, and many of those featured have previously denied knowledge of the disgraced financer’s crimes.

But in typical Trump fashion, he has caused a stir online this Christmas period with one of his phone calls to a child about Santa Claus.

While it may sound a bit odd, it's an annual tradition in which both the President and the First Lady answer phone calls from kids to the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline.

This is an annual programme in which the North American Aerospace Defence Command claims to track Santa as he leaves the North Pole and travels across the world to deliver presents to kids on Christmas Eve.

One of the calls answered by Trump involved the 79-year-old claiming that he does indeed track Santa, to ensure he doesn't 'infiltrate' the US.

The bizarre call started with a child in Oklahoma named Jasper asking if Santa had a tracker on him. In response, Trump said yes, before going off on a weird explanation about our mate St. Nicholas and why he is being tracked.

“We track Santa all over the world, we want to make sure that Santa is being good, because Santa is a very good person,” Trump began.

He then told the child: “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”

“We found out that Santa is good, Santa loves you,” Trump added, before talking to the kid about his election totals. No, seriously.

The President continued: “Santa loves Oklahoma like I do. You know, Oklahoma was very good to me in the election, so I love Oklahoma. Don’t ever leave Oklahoma, okay?”

“Okay, I'll try!” Jasper said in response.

The 'awkward' exchange got people talking on social media, with users sharing their thoughts on Trump's response.

One user wrote on X: "I say this with all due respect on his birthday: Jesus F’ing Christ," with another adding: "Trump’s talking to children about Christmas. Keeps telling them which states he won. So awkward."

A different user joked: "Check Rudolph's passport."

Another call from an eight-year-old girl in Kansas saw her express her hope not to receive coal this Christmas, to which Trump replied: "You mean clean, beautiful coal. I had to do that, I'm sorry. Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that, at all costs.

"But you don't want clean, beautiful coal, right?"

However, it wasn't for her as she said she'd prefer clothes, sweets, and a Barbie doll, which is a very understandable wish, I'd say.