“Sometimes I feel like saying ‘Merry Christmas,’ but this is D.C. and I don’t want to offend people and I know most people here don’t like Trump. He talks about [saying Merry Christmas] a lot,” said Steven Abebe, 47, an Uber driver from Arlington, Virginia, who was doing pickups downtown one night earlier this week. Abebe, a Christian originally from Ethiopia, celebrates Christmas and wants to say it. “Now I’m not sure what to say. I try to wait to see what the other person says or does first.”

Trump Christmas Brain seems to play out differently from person to person. Some normally on team “Merry Christmas” this year switched — sort of like Abebe — and chose “Happy Holidays” on their family cards deliberately to troll their Trump-loving relatives and friends. Others are busy trying to convince their friends not to let Trump-ism demolish their love of the explicit greeting — and the holiday.