President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump are beginning to trade jabs again, threatening the truce they seemed to reach after the election.
The two men sparred for years, but they both toned down the attacks following Trump’s election victory as they sought to create a smooth transition to the next administration.
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Trump talked of how he had enjoyed an Oval Office meeting with Obama, while the president praised the Republican as a “pragmatic” and “gregarious” leader.
But the tensions are rising up again, with Trump on Wednesday ripping Obama for making “inflammatory” statements during the transition period.
Still, Trump said Wednesday that he had spoken to Obama and had a “general conversation” that was “very, very nice.”
“Our staffs have been getting along very well and I’m getting along very well with [Obama], other than a couple of statements that I responded to, and we talked about it and smiled about it and nobody is ever going to know because we are never going to be going against each other,” Trump said later.
Here’s how the tumultuous relationship between Trump and Obama has evolved.
Spring 2011: Trump questions Obama’s birthplace
As he begun to consider running for president, Trump pushed the false theory that Obama is not eligible to serve as president because he was born outside the United States.
“Why doesn’t he show his birth certificate?” he asked during a March 2011 appearance on ABC’s “The View.”
“And you know what? I wish he would because I think it’s a terrible pale that’s hanging over him.”
He floated the possibility Obama was hiding his birth certificate because it showed that he is Muslim. “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want that,” Trump told Fox News at the time.
April 27, 2011: Obama releases the birth certificate
After weeks of prodding by Trump, Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii.
“We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by side shows and carnival barkers,” Obama said in an apparent reference to Trump.
Trump later boasted about forcing Obama to release the document, saying he felt “really honored” to have “played such a big role in hopefully, hopefully getting rid of this issue.”
April 30, 2011: Obama roasts Trump
Obama struck back against Trump at that year’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where the real estate mogul was in attendance.
“No one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald,” Obama said.
“And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
Trump told The Hill in an interview earlier this year that he enjoyed the dinner despite Obama’s jabs.
“I had a great time. I was very honored by all of the attention. The president told joke after joke and it was good.”
Oct. 2012: Birther feud continues
For years after the birth certificate was released, Trump continued to claim uncertainty about Obama’s birthplace.
In the fall of 2012, Trump offered to donate $5 million to a charity of Obama’s choice if he produced his college transcripts and passport records.
Obama a day later dismissed Trump’s offer with a joke.
“This all dates back to when we were growing up together in Kenya,” Obama told Jay Leno, then the host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”
Summer 2015: Trump enters White House race
Trump ramped up his attacks on Obama after he officially entered the presidential race in June 2015, taking aim at his policies on the economy and foreign policy.
The businessman continued to make it personal against the president, still questioning whether he was born in the U.S.
At a candidate forum in Iowa that summer, Trump questioned whether Obama loves the country he leads.
“One thing that he would do, he would be a great cheerleader for this country,” Trump said. “He’s been horrible. I don’t know if he loves America. I hope he loves America.”
Throughout most of last year, Obama continued to treat Trump as a punch line. At the correspondents’ dinner in late April, Obama joked that Trump was “here … still.”
Fall 2015: Obama says Trump won’t win
In an October interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Obama called Trump “the classic reality TV character” who had sucked up oxygen in a divided Republican primary field.
Asked if he thought Trump’s campaign would fizzle, Obama said he would “leave it up to the pundits to make that determination. I don’t think he’ll end up being president of the United States.”
Summer 2016: Trump gains momentum, Obama pushes back
As Trump marched to the Republican nomination, he and Obama continued to trade insults. But the president’s tone toward Trump became more serious.
On Aug. 2, he declared Trump “unfit” to serve as president after the GOP nominee insulted the Muslim parents of a fallen U.S. service member.
Trump responded by calling Obama “the worst president, maybe in the history of our country.”
“I think he’s been a disaster. He’s been weak, he’s been ineffective,” Trump told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.
Sept. 16, 2016: Trump says Obama born in U.S.
Trump conceded Obama is a natural-born American citizen during an appearance at his new luxury hotel in Washington.
“President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period,” he said.
But he blamed his opponent, Hillary Clinton, for starting the controversy.
“Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy,” he said. “I finished it.”
Fall 2016: The attacks continue
Trump’s announcement did nothing to cool the tensions with Obama, as they continued to do battle up until Election Day.
“Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to be president,” Obama said at a Nov. 3. rally in Miami. “Anybody who is upset about a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit, you don’t want in charge of nuclear weapons.”
Appearing at a rally on another side of the state, Trump said, “he’s down here campaigning for Crooked Hillary. This guy ought to be back in the office working.”
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