hehehehe......US President-elect Donald Trump poured
kerosene on a simmering dispute with Barack Obama Wednesday, accusing
him of derailing a smooth transition with “inflammatory” statements and
“roadblocks.”
Ever since the November 8 election,
Trump and Obama have tried to bury political differences in favour of a
united public front that would smooth the transfer of power on January
20.
But the Republican president-in-waiting
unceremoniously cast any bonhomie aside in a morning twitter tirade from
his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
In a declaration that is unprecedented
in its personal condemnation of a soon-to-be predecessor, the
70-year-old tweeted: “Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory
President O statements and roadblocks.”
“Thought it was going to be a smooth transition – NOT!”
Tensions between Trump and the current
White House have been growing for weeks as Obama has become more
outspoken about a vitriol-filled election, which saw Democrat Hillary
Clinton suffer a shock defeat.
Obama — who is still the most popular
politician in the country — recently suggested that he may have won a
third term were he not constitutionally barred.
That seems to have irked the notoriously thin-skinned president-elect.
At the same time, the pair have competed to take credit for solid economic indicators.
After months of talking down the world’s
largest economy, Trump has tried to take credit for a number of
economic developments that are roughly on trend.
“The U.S. Consumer Confidence Index for
December surged nearly four points to 113.7, THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN MORE
THAN 15 YEARS! Thanks Donald” he tweeted late Tuesday, referring to
himself in the third person.
– White House response –
While the White House has seethed behind
the scenes, there has been little public response to Trump’s forays
into US foreign and domestic policy before he takes office in less than a
month.
But tensions reached something of a
breaking point after the United States tacitly backed condemnation of
Israeli settlement activity at the United Nations.
With Washington withholding its veto,
the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding a halt to Israeli
settlement building in Palestinian territory.
Trump followed up Wednesday’s early tweet with another two taking aim at Obama’s policy toward Israel.
“We cannot continue to let Israel be
treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a
great friend in the US, but…..” he wrote.
“Not anymore. The beginning of the end
was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (UN)! Stay strong Israel,
January 20th is fast approaching!”
Throughout the long election campaign,
Obama made no secret of his disdain for Trump, describing him as
ill-informed and unfit for office.
But since a landmark meeting in the Oval
Office a few days after the election, Obama has tried flattery in a bid
to bind Trump to the norms of office.
He has praised Trump on a historic
victory and made plain that millions of Republican voters would also be
hurt if Trump overturns his landmark health care law.
Obama has repeatedly vowed to make the transition as smooth as possible.
At lower levels, the transition has
spluttered along after a slow start that saw many key departments wait
for substantive meetings with Trump staff.
The real estate
mogul-turned-commander-in-chief is gradually putting together a team
that is made up of Republican establishment figures, billionaires,
generals and far-right activists.
At Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, he met
potential secretaries of agriculture and discussed measures to repeal
Obamacare with notable doctors.
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