In this photo, taken Dec. 21, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the media at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump is questioning the effectiveness of the United Nations, saying it’s just a club for people to “have a good time.” His post on Twitter Monday, Dec. 26, is the president-elect’s latest comment since the UN Security Council voted Friday to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. (Photo by ANDREW HARNIK/AP)
PALM BEACH, Florida — President-elect Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama on Wednesday of throwing up “inflammatory” roadblocks during the transition of power and his administration of treating Israel with “total disdain,” further straining the veneer of civility between the incoming and outgoing leaders.
Although Trump didn’t detail his complaints in his morning broadsides on Twitter, the president-elect has made it clear that it didn’t sit well with him when Obama recently boasted that he would have won the election if he’d been running.
Trump’s largely respectful tone about Obama since the election evaporated in his latest tweets.
“Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks,” Trump tweeted. “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition – NOT!”
Trump also took direct issue with the Obama administration’s decision to let a UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel pass.
“We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect,” he said in a two-part tweet. “They used to have a great friend in the US, but … not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (UN)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”
Trump and his team have until now been largely complimentary of the way Obama and his people have handled the transition. The president-elect’s complaints about the treatment of Israel came a few hours before John Kerry was to make his final speech about Mideast peace as secretary of state — remarks that some Israeli officials panned in advance. The administration’s decision not to veto the U.N. resolution aggravated an already strained US-Israel relationship.
A dispute erupted Monday between Obama and Trump, spurred by Obama’s hypothetical musings that had he run again, he would have been victorious. Obama suggested he still holds enough sway over the coalition of voters who elected him twice to get them to vote for him once again. Trump’s response to that was “NO WAY!”
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted: “President Obama campaigned hard (and personally) in very important swing states, and lost. The voters wanted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Obama swept most key swing states in his two bids for the White House, but Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, fell short.
Later Tuesday, Trump thanked himself for a surge in a key gauge of consumer confidence. He wrote on Twitter that the Conference Board had reported that its consumer confidence index had climbed to 113.7 in December.
Trump noted that’s the highest the index has climbed in more than 15 years, then added, “Thanks Donald!”