OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Donald Trump is always one to say things that create news, but this was something no one could have expected.
On Saturday, after years of tearing into former President Obama, the 45th President of the United States offered praise to his predecessor, The Sun Sentinel reported.
Trump was at an event with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, as part of the pairs speaking tour, when he spoke of Obama.
“I liked him,” he said as the crowd booed the mention of Obama’s name. He said that his predecessor was “smart and sharp” but he did blame him for causing “tremendous division” and hatred in the United States.
“We had a great time in Sunrise, FL yesterday. Very exciting, informative, and fun. We will be back in the area for a major rally in the not too distant future. See you then!” Trump said in an email to supporters on Sunday.
The New York Post reported.
The compliments were a drastic change for Trump, who spent five years falsely claiming that Obama wasn’t born in the US, and made bogus claims about his two terms in office. He had also labeled the former president “the most ignorant president in our history,” “a disaster” and the “founder of ISIS.”
Trump’s stated admiration for Obama is not without precedent however. In 2009 he told CNN “I think he’s doing a great job.”
But he did not offer the same praise for Obama’s former vice president, and the current President of the United States, Joe Biden.
“Every country in the world takes advantage of the United States,” he said. “It’s a horrible thing to say but I don’t feel America, right now, is great.”
And just a week ago Trump said Biden should resign over his handling of the COVID crisis.
“Biden said that he was going to ‘beat the virus,’ but instead, the virus has beaten him — and badly,” the 45th president said in a statement. “Far more people died this year than last, despite tremendous help fro vaccines and therapeutics developed under ‘Trump.’
“He said anybody with his results should leave office,” Trump continued, adding: “Well Joe, what are you waiting for!”
Trump has also been highly critical of other policies enacted by Biden since he came into office nearly a year ago, many of which were simply reversals of Trump’s policies for the sake of reversing them — not because they weren’t effective.
Trump offered his perspectives in an interview with Fox News host and top conservative radio talker Mark Levin on Saturday to, among other things, discuss his new book, “Our Journey Together,” which contains hand-selected photos of him and his family during his four-year term.
“If you look, President Obama was very divisive, but people were more quiet about it. They didn’t want to insult him, but he was very divisive,” Trump said.
“But the Biden administration is far worse. In fact, I noticed the other day where Obama said ‘this is very dangerous’; all of these — you know, what they’ve done. It’s too much for him,” he added.
“But when they look at his top economic people are looking at this inflation, and they’re seeing these bills that are being passed for trillions and trillions of dollars where it’s like throwing money out the window,” Trump continued.
He went on to make a dire prediction if Biden’s policies were allowed to continue.
“This country has tremendous potential, tremendous, but we’re giving it away, and there’ll be a point where the country can’t come back, and we can never allow that point to be reached,” he said.
