--- title: Trump Thanksgiving Dinner: Trump Thankful for Himself description: President Donald Trump says he is most thankful for his family and what he called "the tremendous difference" he said he has made. canonical: https://time.com/5462273/trump-thanksgiving-call/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-23T14:56:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:09.437Z og:title: President Trump Said He's Thankful for These 2 Things This Thanksgiving og:description: He also spoke with members of the military og:url: https://time.com/5462273/trump-thanksgiving-call/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt008328d363aa05ad/69893fd0096a94788f6a403e/trumpthanksgiving2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3240 og:image:height: 1823 og:image:alt: President Trumps Hosts Presentation Of National Thanksgiving Turkey og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Said He's Thankful for These 2 Things This Thanksgiving twitter:description: He also spoke with members of the military twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt008328d363aa05ad/69893fd0096a94788f6a403e/trumpthanksgiving2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Said He's Thankful for These 2 Things This Thanksgiving Season > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 23, 2018 2:56 PM UTC  Trump says he is most thankful for the tremendous difference he has made. (Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Trump says he is most thankful for the tremendous difference he has made. (Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto—NurPhoto via Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Nov 23, 2018 2:56 PM UTC President Donald [Trump](http://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/) says he is most thankful for his family and what he called “the tremendous difference” he has made in America, while speaking at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday. Responding to a reporter who asked what he wanted to give [thanks](http://time.com/5458952/trump-pardons-turkey/) for on his Thanksgiving call with media and military members, he said: “For having a great family and for having made a tremendous difference in this country. I’ve made a tremendous difference in the country. This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office that you wouldn’t believe it.” He continued: “And I mean, you see, but so much stronger … people can’t even believe it. When I see foreign leaders, they say we cannot believe the difference in strength between the United States now and the United States two years ago,” he continued. “Made a lot of progress.” Trump also broke with tradition by using the [annual Thanksgiving Day call](https://www.apnews.com/c04d229d99244c90a38213e94545c0ff) to members of a number of military branches by choosing to bridge military efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border with efforts of his own. At one point, he criticized federal courts for blocking his [proclamation aimed at asylum-seeking migrants](http://time.com/5449845/white-house-moves-bar-migrants-asylum/). “It’s a terrible thing when judges take over your protective services, when they tell you how to protect your border. It’s a disgrace,” he said. He also had remarks on the economy. “I hope that you’ll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well,” he said. “The nation’s doing well economically, better than anybody in the world.” He did offer others words of praise for those helping with the deadly wildfires on the West Coast in a video message posted to Twitter. “We thank every firefighter, first responder, and law enforcement officer who raced into danger to save so many lives. These are brave people, these are great people, these are special people.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1065623990746710022) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5462273/trump-thanksgiving-call/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5462273/trump-thanksgiving-call/"},"headline":"President Trump Said He's Thankful for These 2 Things This Thanksgiving Season","datePublished":"2018-11-23T14:56:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:09.437Z","description":"He also spoke with members of the military","url":"https://time.com/5462273/trump-thanksgiving-call/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","onetime","Holidays 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt008328d363aa05ad/69893fd0096a94788f6a403e/trumpthanksgiving2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt008328d363aa05ad/69893fd0096a94788f6a403e/trumpthanksgiving2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trumps Hosts Presentation Of National Thanksgiving Turkey","caption":"President Trumps is most thankful for the difference he has made on Thanksgiving.","creditText":"NurPhoto—NurPhoto via 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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5462273/trump-thanksgiving-call/","name":"President Trump Said He's Thankful for These 2 Things This Thanksgiving Season"}}]}] ```