Former President Trump offered rare praise of his White House predecessor Tuesday, calling former President Obama a “nice gentleman” before his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes asked Trump for a “prebuttal” of Obama’s remarks to Democrats Tuesday before he was set to take the stage at his own rally in Michigan. Instead of hammering home his typical attacks of Obama, Trump told CNN that he liked and respected the 44th president, while also criticizing his trade policies.
“I like him. I think he’s a nice gentleman, but he was very, very weak on trade,” he said. “If you take a look at what happened to our country, trade-wise, it was a disaster.
“Take a look at Japan. Take a look at China,” Trump continued. “Take a look at what happened with some of these countries, what they did.”
The GOP nominee added, “But I happen to like him. I respect him, and I respect his wife.”
The former president’s comments showed a stark contrast to his usual insults thrown at Obama. Trump was one of the stronger promoters of the “birther” conspiracy theory that falsely claimed Obama was not born in the United States.
His comments also came before former first lady Michelle Obama delivered her remarks in Chicago. She ripped into the GOP presidential hopeful throughout her speech, and her loudest applause came from referencing Trump’s recent “Black jobs” comment.
“By the way — who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs?’” the former first lady said as the crowd burst into applause.
Former President Obama then took the stage, where he also tore into the former president. He said Trump “hasn’t stopped whining about his problems” and is “afraid of losing to Kamala,” noting he spreads conspiracy theories and has a “weird obsession with crowd sizes.”
“The other day, I heard someone compare Trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day,” he said. “Now, from a neighbor, that’s exhausting. From a president, that’s just dangerous.”
The Obamas endorsed Vice President Harris late last month, after President Biden announced he would step aside from the race. Harris is currently leading Trump by 3 points — 49.4 percent to 46.4 percent — in The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s national polling index.