Donald Trump had some surprisingly kind words about his former adversary Barack Obama ahead of his predecessor’s speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.
Trump was asked what he thought of the 44th president and longtime nemesis, but while he criticized Obama’s trade policies, Trump spoke highly of his character.
“I like him, I think he’s a good gentleman, but he was very, very weak on trade; if you look at what happened to our country in terms of trade, it was a disaster.”
Trump cited Obama’s relations with China and Japan as a major failing of his presidency, but had some praise for the former president and his wife Michelle, who also spoke Tuesday.
“I happen to like him. I respect him and I respect his wife,” Trump told CNN.
Donald Trump had some surprisingly nice words for his former adversary Barack Obama ahead of his predecessor’s speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.
Trump has said similar things about Obama in the past, despite his criticism in the run-up to his 2016 election victory and previous claims that Obama was not born in this country.
“I liked him,” Trump said of Obama in a 2021 interview with Bill O’Reilly, The Sun Sentinel reported – although the crowd booed upon hearing the former president’s name.
Trump added that he thought Obama was “smart and sharp.”
Before Trump’s positive comments against Obama on Saturday, he spent several years feuding with the former president.
Trump, while still a private citizen, spent years promoting the theory that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore ineligible to serve as president.
After becoming a politician, Trump claimed that Obama was the “founder of ISIS” and “one of the worst presidents in American history.”
Despite a difficult election season in 2016, Obama wrote Trump a letter on Inauguration Day and left it in a drawer in the Oval Office. Trump said at the time that it was “beautiful.”
Despite a difficult election season in 2016, Obama wrote Trump a letter on Inauguration Day and left it in a drawer in the Oval Office. Trump said at the time that it was “beautiful.”
The remarks stand in stark contrast to Trump’s view of current Democratic front-runner Kamala Harris, whom he has consistently called a “low IQ person.”
In an interview ahead of the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, Trump says he hopes such attacks are not “necessary” but says he is trying to save the country.
He said: ‘I’ve always spoken my mind, I don’t think she’s very good at this, I think she’ll destroy our country.’
Trump explained the basis for his criticism that Harris is not intelligent.
“I’ve looked at the things he’s said, I’ve looked at the way he acts, I’ve looked at his history of insanity, I’ve looked at his policies, but I don’t think that’s the case. I could say that he is and that would be very good,” he said. CBS News.
Trump, on the other hand, believes he is the right man to bring intelligence to the White House and protect the American economy.
“I don’t think I’m a very intelligent person. I think I’m a very intelligent person and a lot of people say that. I don’t think I’m a very intelligent person and you know what? Our country needs a very intelligent person, but I don’t consider that an insult, it’s just a fact.”
The former president has previously attacked Harris’s intelligence, saying at rallies: “She happens to be a person with a very low IQ.”
The remarks stand in stark contrast to Trump’s view of current Democratic front-runner Kamala Harris, whom he has consistently called a “low IQ person.”
‘We don’t need another low IQ individual.
“She’s terrible, she’s worse than (Biden). I don’t feel sorry for him. He’s a bad guy.”
The Obamas headline the second night of the Democratic convention in Chicago, which also includes Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders.
Trump is preparing to debate Kamala Harris for the first time on September 10 in Philadelphia.