President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the transition between President Obama and his incoming administration was not a smooth one. | AP Photo
‘Thought it was going to be a smooth transition — NOT!’
By Louis Nelson
12/28/16 10:10 AM EST
After weeks of warm words and promises of a smooth transition in the wake of perhaps the most contentious presidential election in modern history, President-elect Donald Trump complained Wednesday morning that the man he will succeed in office is throwing up “roadblocks.”
“Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks,” Trump tweeted, referring to President Barack Obama by his initial. “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition – NOT!”
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The two men who had little positive to say about each other on the campaign trail seemingly buried the hatchet during an Oval Office meeting that took place just days after Trump’s surprising victory in last month’s election. Obama and Trump have spoken multiple times since then and both expressed interest in a seamless transition between administrations. As recently as last week, incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer wrote on Twitter that “the current WH has been unbelievably gracious … w/ making this transition as smooth as poss.”
But the budding relationship between the president and president-elect has frayed in recent weeks, first over the assessment of the FBI and CIA that the Russian government launched cyberattacks targeting the U.S. electoral process with the intention of aiding Trump’s candidacy. Trump has been unwilling to concede that assessment, or even that Russia was behind the cyberattacks at all, a stance that prompted critical remarks from White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
The president-elect also lashed out this week at the Obama administration over its unwillingness to defend Israel at the United Nations against a resolution condemning it for new settlement activity. He posted to Twitter on Christmas Eve that “the big loss yesterday for Israel in the United Nations will make it much harder to negotiate peace. Too bad, but we will get it done anyway!” He added Wednesday that “we cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect” and urged Israel to “stay strong” because his inauguration on “January 20th is fast approaching!”
Obama also has made veiled criticisms of Trump in various public remarks, indirectly attacking the president-elect multiple times during his end-of-year news conference and in his remarks Tuesday at Pearl Harbor, where he warned that “even when hatred burns hottest, even when the tug of tribalism is at its most primal, we must resist the urge to turn inward. We must resist the urge to demonize those who are different.”
And in an interview with CNN’s David Axelrod, his former senior adviser, Obama said he was confident that he could have won a third term in a race against Trump running on his “hope and change” message. The president-elect disagreed.
“President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me,” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday afternoon. “He should say that but I say NO WAY! – jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.”
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