Donald Trump apparently doesn’t see much point in bashing President Obama anymore, but the same can’t be said for some of his supporters.
The
crowd at the president-elect’s Friday afternoon “Get Out the-Vote”
rally in Baton Rouge, La., lapped up most of his usual talking points on
manufacturing and military might. Now that he’s won the presidency, the
bona fide showman was not as vitriolic or impassioned as he had been on
the campaign trail.
Trump
even had kind things to say about Obama, whom he previously called “the
worst president, maybe in the history of our country.”
“President
Obama, who by the way I’ve gotten along with so well,” Trump told
supporters during his speech at a Dow Chemical facility. The moment
turned awkward: Trump’s fans went largely silent as scattered boos broke
out in the audience before he could finish his sentence.
“No, no, no, he’s really doing great. He’s been so nice,” the president-elect said.
As part of his “thank-you” tour, Trump was in Louisiana to campaign for Republican John Kennedy
in the state’s Senate runoff election. He made the Obama comments
before vowing to place a five-year ban on executive branch officials
from becoming lobbyists and a lifetime ban on them becoming lobbyists
for foreign governments.
The
relationship between Trump and Obama has been notoriously troubled.
Among other things, Trump was for years a leading voice in the birther
movement that spread fringe conspiracy theories about Obama’s
citizenship.
For his part, Obama ruthlessly mocked Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner. And during this year’s presidential election, Obama said of Trump, “If somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes.”
But just days after Trump’s general election victory, Obama welcomed Trump
into the White House for a meeting that was cordial by all accounts.
Talking to reporters after their meeting, Obama noted that his
predecessor, former President George W. Bush, had been gracious despite
their political differences, and instructed his staff to extend the same
courtesy to his successor.
Despite
their significant disagreements and history of insults, both parties
appear to be cooperating as well as they can to preserve what’s
considered a cornerstone of American democracy: the peaceful transition
of power.
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