--- title: RNC Christmas Message Referred to Jesus, Not Donald Trump description: The Republican National Committee came under fire on Sunday after people said its Christmas message compared Donald Trump to Jesus Christ canonical: https://time.com/4617878/rnc-donald-trump-christmas-new-king/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-25T19:53:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:28:00.303Z article:section: Politics og:title: RNC’s Christmas Message About a ‘New King’ Referred to Jesus, Not Trump og:description: "This Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King" og:url: https://time.com/4617878/rnc-donald-trump-christmas-new-king/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec4214f8c8145c0c/6988b3f58fd2ee34ed355444/reince-priebus-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Reince Priebus on December 13, 2016 in West Allis, Wisconsin. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: RNC’s Christmas Message About a ‘New King’ Referred to Jesus, Not Trump twitter:description: "This Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec4214f8c8145c0c/6988b3f58fd2ee34ed355444/reince-priebus-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The RNC Says Its Christmas Message About a ‘New King’ Referred to Jesus, Not Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 25, 2016 7:53 PM UTC  Reince Priebus on Dec. 13, 2016, in West Allis, Wis. Reince Priebus on Dec. 13, 2016, in West Allis, Wis. Scott Olson—2016 Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Dec 25, 2016 7:53 PM UTC The [Republican National Committee](http://time.com/4540209/rnc-michael-steele-donald-trump/) came under fire on Sunday after some said its Christmas message compared [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) to Jesus Christ. “Over two millennia ago, a new hope was born into the world, a Savior who would offer the promise of salvation to all mankind,” the [message from RNC chair Reince Priebus](https://gop.com/rnc-message-celebrating-christmas-2016/) and co-chair Sharon Day said. “Just as the three wise men did on that night, this Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King.” The “news of a new King” set off social media users, including some who saw the statement as a clear reference to Trump’s election. > [](https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/813064170161786880) Others argued Priebus was referring to Christ, not to Trump. > [](https://twitter.com/JWP1022/status/813077315118923776) Priebus, who has been named Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, sent a message last Christmas that [made no reference to a “new King.”](https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/new-king-trump?utm%5Fterm=.yxVxVeGPaV#.or5Wwm7n1w) RNC spokesman Sean Spicer said the statement was not related to Trump and derided the “politicizing” of Christmas. “Christ is the King,” he [wrote on Twitter](https://twitter.com/seanspicer/status/813095085613154312?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw). “He was born today so we could be saved. Its sad & disappointing you are politicizing such a holy day.” > [](https://twitter.com/seanspicer/status/813095085613154312) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4617878/rnc-donald-trump-christmas-new-king/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4617878/rnc-donald-trump-christmas-new-king/"},"headline":"The RNC Says Its Christmas Message About a ‘New King’ Referred to Jesus, Not Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-12-25T19:53:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:28:00.303Z","description":"\"This Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King\"","url":"https://time.com/4617878/rnc-donald-trump-christmas-new-king/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec4214f8c8145c0c/6988b3f58fd2ee34ed355444/reince-priebus-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec4214f8c8145c0c/6988b3f58fd2ee34ed355444/reince-priebus-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Reince Priebus on December 13, 2016 in West Allis, Wisconsin.","caption":"Reince Priebus on December 13, 2016 in West Allis, Wisconsin.","creditText":"Scott Olson—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4617878/rnc-donald-trump-christmas-new-king/","name":"The RNC Says Its Christmas Message About a ‘New King’ Referred to Jesus, Not Donald Trump"}}]}] ```