Out of necessity, journalists are on a lot of mailing lists and have to follow countless politicians on social media. On major holidays, that means having to sift through hundreds of messages that are essentially the same… apart from those of the odd Republicans who want to demonstrate that they love the Second Amendment so much that they need to be heavily armed on their Christmas card.

On the one hand, that is quite tedious. However, it is also a reminder that there are a lot of things that unite us, such as the desire of Democrats and Republicans alike to surround themselves with their families for a photo opportunity.

And then there is Donald Trump, who has turned posting bizarre holiday messages into an artform.

Thursday was no exception.

First, the president wished Merry Christmas to terrorists killed in US strikes on Nigeria.

As though that wasn’t strange enough, he followed that up with a message that sounded oddly disdainful of the “Sleazebags” who thought Jeffrey Epstein was “the greatest guy in the world” but then “drop[ped] him like a dog when things got too hot.”

Trump, of course, once called his former friend “a terrific guy” who is “a lot of fun to be with.”

What’s most baffling about the president’s social media post is that his past association with the sexual predator and his current behavior related to the release of the Epstein files have been a political nightmare for him.

Merely a quarter of Americans answered the question of “Do you believe [Donald Trump] engaged in crimes with Jeffrey Epstein?” with “No.”

And fewer than one-in-five of them believe that the president didn’t know that his friend was sexually abusing girls that he trafficked.

Finally, and likely based in large part on Trump’s own behavior, nearly half of all Americans are sure that the Department of Justice is hiding Epstein-related information because it would implicate the president.

So why would he choose Christmas, a day on which most people probably want to get away from politics, to talk about his former friend?

Apparently, it was to convince Americans that all those “sleazebags” were Democrats, and this is just another witch hunt targeting him.

Will that work?

Well, not on Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the Republicans leading the efforts to disclose the Epstein files and the only person mentioned by name in Trump’s post.

“Merry Christmas to you too Mr. President!” the lawmaker responded. “So… I’ve teamed up with radical left democrats to expose… Democrats. This 4D chess is fun!”