After he left office in 2017, former President Barack Obama largely stayed out of the media spotlight and kept his true feelings on his successor Donald Trump.
That changed during the 2020 presidential campaign.
According to a new book, Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaigns to Defeat Donald Trump, written by Edward-Isaac Dovere, a staff writer for The Atlantic, Obama did not mince words on his thoughts of the man who followed him.
The Guardian released excerpts of the book Wednesday, including conversations Obama had with donors and political advisers where he called Trump a “corrupt motherf—er,” a “madman,” a “racist, sexist pig,” and a “f—ing lunatic.”
The feud between the two former presidents goes back to Trump’s false claims about where Obama was born and hiding
his birth certificate. In 2011, Obama hit back, roasting Trump at the Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump responded by spending his four years in office trying to destroy everything Obama did during his eight years.The book adds that during the Republican primaries, Obama was more accepting of Trump succeeding him than Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. However, as the Trump presidency continued Obama’s presidential words changed.
“More often: ‘I didn’t think it would be this bad.’ Sometimes: ‘I didn’t think we’d have a racist, sexist pig,'” Obama said according to the book.
During the run-up to the election, Obama stumped for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris tearing into his successor for his response to the pandemic, slamming the military and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Obama’s strongest comment against Trump in the book came when it was announced he was meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin amid the Russian election interference probe.
“‘That corrupt motherf—er,’ he remarked.”
Trump will likely respond through his office, however the former president has larger concerns as New York District Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance have combined their investigations into Trump and his organization.