President Trump deviates from presidential code
Past and serving presidents may not always agree, but, over the years, they have tended to uphold a certain level of decorum.
In a piece published by The Hill, Niall Stanage notes, "The old rules of how presidents deal with those who came before them are being rewritten in the Trump era. President Trump stunned the political world Saturday when he asserted, without evidence, that former President Barack Obama had engaged in 'wiretapping' of Trump Tower before the elections."
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Among the historians weighing in on the issue is Princeton University's Julian Zelizer.
He comments, "There have been times where we've seen new presidents be critical of former presidents...But that is a lot different from claiming that your predecessor is agitating activists to go against you, or accusing him of having broken the law with some kind of wiretap. That is a whole other level that you don't normally see. [President Gerald] Ford and Carter were nicer about [President Richard] Nixon than Trump is about Obama!"
Of course, the relationship between Trump and Obama has a rocky history that dates back to before either of them were in office.
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In late 2006, Trump expressed reservations about the then-candidate and in 2008 endorsed Obama's rival, John McCain, notes the Washington Post.
Though Trump initially offered some kind words about the job President Obama was doing, by early 2011 he was at the forefront of the birther movement, demanding that Obama release his birth certificate as proof he was born in the U.S.
Obama, in turn, took a number of jabs at Trump during the April 2011 White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
As for the recent wiretap accusation, some close to Obama say that he was "livid over the accusation," reports the Wall Street Journal.
However, outside of issuing a denial, he and his current staff have refrained from officially commenting on the matter.
