Donald Trump's Stunning Reversal On Barack And Michelle Obama Wasn't On Our 2024 Bingo Card

If Day 1 of the Democratic National Convention was festive (apart from First Lady Jill Biden's tacky dress, which missed the mark unfortunately), the second night was positively giddy. Following the official casting of state delegate votes to put Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz on the party ticket, there were several impassioned speeches from notable Democrats, including former White House residents Barack and Michelle Obama. Hours before the convention began, CNN reporter Kristen Holmes spoke to Barack's successor, Donald Trump, to find out if he had a "prebuttal" to the former president's highly anticipated speech. 

Trump's startling response took her aback: "I like him. I think he's a nice gentleman, but he was very, very weak on trade," (via YouTube). The controversial politician went on to call Barack's foreign trade deals disastrous but quickly added, "I happen to like him. I respect him, and I respect his wife." As Holmes pointed out, Trump's comments were in stark contrast to several previous statements about his predecessor including him being one of the most outspoken proponents of the infamous "birther" rumor, which suggests Barack might not have been born in the U.S. and therefore wasn't qualified to be president. 

Even after his Hawaiian birth certificate was made public, it took years for Trump to finally declare Barack a citizen. Among the many other potshots Trump has taken were the claim that he "founded ISIS" (via The Guardian) and his frequent, deliberate use of Barack's middle name, Hussein, implying he might not have America's best interests at heart. 

CNN's panel was clearly surprised by Donald Trump's newfound "respect" for Barack and Michelle Obama considering he spent so long openly trashing them both professionally and personally. "I mean, who is that man?" wondered correspondent Jamie Gangel (via CNN). John King recalled showing the former president Barack's birth certificate, only to have Trump throw it back at him and state that he planned to continue investigating the issue regardless. The team agreed Trump's about-face wasn't the act of a softened heart, but of an ambitious candidate desperate to win the support of Black voters. Likewise, it was all too similar to Trump's embarrassing U-turn on Tim Walz. Following the 2020 riots in Minneapolis, in response to the murder of George Floyd, the then-president praised Walz's handling of the situation as governor, calling him "an excellent guy," (via CBS News). 

Now that he's Kamala Harris's vice-presidential pick, however, Walz suddenly has become "weird" and a "whack job," according to a Trump speech quoted by The Hill. Equally unimpressed is Michelle Obama, who zinged the former president's words right back at him during her own remarks at the DNC. According to CNN, she asserted, "For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to make people fear us. His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black. I want to know — who's going to tell him the job he's currently seeking might be one of those Black jobs?"