New York Times reporter Peter Baker said in an interview that aired Tuesday that President Trump’s 2016 victory felt like “an insult” to former President Obama.
“I think for President Obama, the idea that the country would elect him twice and then turn around and elect someone like Donald Trump, who had spent years trying to discredit him in a way that had very racial overtones, it felt like a slap, it felt like an insult,” Baker, who is the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising” on Monday.
For years prior to announcing his 2016 presidential bid, Trump publicly led the “birther” movement, claiming Obama was not born in the United States.
Obama eventually released his long-form birth certificate to counter Trump’s unsubstantiated claims, and Trump acknowledged in a 2016 campaign stop that Obama was born in the U.S.
“Every president wants to be succeeded by the person who will continue their policies, and are often disappointed,” Baker said. Former President George W. Bush “wanted a Republican to succeed him, so did [former President] Clinton, with a Democrat.”
“This is different. This is more personal,” Baker said, adding that Obama “called it a personal insult. He said it stings, it hurts. And it was such a surprise, obviously, to a lot of people in the country, but to this particular president.”
— Julia Manchester
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