Former President Barack Obama is "smart and sharp," but sowed "tremendous division" during his time in office, former President Donald Trump said at an event in Florida on Saturday. Trump also said he "liked" Obama, The New York Post reported.
The comments mark a major shift in rhetoric for the forty-fifth president, who spent years claiming his predecessor was born in Kenya and was "the most ignorant president in our history."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
An Israeli outlet released excerpts Friday from an interview in which Trump blasted Netanyahu for congratulating then-President-elect Biden on his victory before Trump had conceded. He also referred to the former premier by his nickname, Bibi, throughout the interview.
"F--k him," Trump said of Netanyahu. "Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty." Trump added that the "first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape."
This is false. Netanyahu was not the first world leader to congratulate Biden; that honor went to Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau. Also, Netanyahu — at least initially — congratulated Biden by tweet, not "on tape."
Rather than matching Trump's harsh language, Netanyahu explained in an interview Friday that it was important for him to congratulate Biden but that he still values "President Trump's big contribution to Israel and its security."
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
How Benjamin Netanyahu shaped Israel in his own imageThe Explainer He has seldom been personally popular, but ‘King Bibi’ is an exceptionally shrewd operator
-
Calls for both calm and consequences follow Kirk killingTALKING POINTS The suspected assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has some public figures pleading for restraint, while others agitate for violent reprisals
-
Why does Donald Trump keep showing up at major sporting events?Today's Big Question Trump has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 and other events
-
‘Democracy is under threat globally’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Former top FBI agents sue, claiming Trump purgeSpeed Read The agents alleged they were targeted by a “campaign of retribution”
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
Judge lets Cook stay at Fed while appealing ousterSpeed Read Trump had attempted to fire Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud
