Mr. Trump (right) and Mr. Obama talked at Mr. Carter’s funeral on January 9
US President-elect Donald Trump said he and former President Barack Obama “probably really” liked each other despite their “different philosophies”, after the two talked and laughed while attending the funeral of late President Jimmy Carter at the National Cathedral in Washington DC on January 9.
After the image of two people seemingly intimate spread quickly online, Mr. Trump said that he “did not realize the level of intimacy” with Mr. Obama. “I said it looks like two people like each other and maybe we like each other. We have a little different philosophies don’t we? But maybe we get along. I don’t know. I get along with everyone everyone,” Mr. Trump shared with NBC News.
The president-elect did not mention specifically what he said, making Mr. Obama laugh.
President-elect Trump was spared prison sentence related to the porn star hush money case
According to lip reading expert Jeremy Freeman, it seemed that Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama were wary of cameras pointing at them, so they sat shoulder to shoulder and wanted to appear intimate.
Based on the two people’s mouths, this expert guessed that they seemed to be talking about international agreements. According to him, at one point Mr. Trump tilted his head toward Mr. Obama and said “I withdrew from that (agreement). Those were the conditions. Can you imagine that?”
Mr. Obama laughed and Mr. Trump added that “and then, I will (withdraw),” according to Mr. Freeman.
While both of them appeared to enjoy sitting next to each other at the funeral of late President Carter, Vice President Kamala Harris sitting in front of them seemed to sigh after discovering they were laughing. Then, she looked over her left shoulder in the direction of the two people before looking straight ahead,
The cheerful interaction between Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama took place after what was said to be a tense relationship between the two over the past decade.
Mr. Trump once mentioned unfounded rumors about Mr. Obama being born in Kenya. This rumor prompted Mr. Obama in 2011 to publicly reveal his birth certificate showing his birthplace as Hawaii.
Mr. Trump also accused Mr. Obama of ordering the federal government to “spy” on his election campaign about alleged ties to Russia after the 2016 election.
However, Mr. Obama also had certain criticisms of the president-elect. When speaking at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024, Mr. Obama said that Mr. Trump “has a strange obsession with crowd size” when campaigning.
