A Charlie Brown Christmas. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide Soon, millions of American families will come together to celebrate the holidays and passive-aggressively debate whether the country has just been saved or destroyed. For many, one annual ritual will provide a welcome distraction: watching a depressed child get berated and mocked relentlessly. A Charlie Brown Christmas, based on the “Peanuts” comic strip, has aired every December for the last 50 years — longer than any other holiday program besides Lee Mendelson, who produced A Charlie Brown Christmas, thinks its message might be particularly relevant this year, with at least half the population feeling like someone pulled the football away. “These people identify with Charlie Brown maybe more than ever after this election season. He keeps fighting back and keeps enduring,” Mendelson says. “If we ever have to fight bullying, at so many levels, this is it.”