It was a moment that made many sit up and say, What the heck am I watching?! It occurred at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January when former President Barack Obama and the man who is trying to undo everything Barack did—President Donald Trump—were seen sitting together… and laughing.
That had been on exactly no one’s bingo card.
The moment did not seem to sit well with the woman Trump beat in the presidential election, former Vice President Kamala Harris, who looked quite peeved at the whole affair. Michelle Obama, meanwhile, wasn’t even in attendance because she couldn’t be bothered to attend the funeral of a former head of state.
But what made Obama laugh? Why were two men who criticize each other relentlessly and seem to have no love lost between them acting like old chums?
Turns out, Trump was inviting the former president to hit the fairways at one of the many courses he owns, according to the book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” which was released Tuesday.
The then-president-elect requested that his predecessor join him on the links as the two political foes shocked the world with their pleasantries during Carter’s state funeral inside the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9, 2025.
“He sat next to Barack Obama and invited him to play golf, enticing him with descriptions of Trump’s courses around the world,” according to a passage from the book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” according to Axios.
One of the authors of the book, Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey, appeared on Fox News and told the hosts that Trump was charming Obama:
Our sister site Townhall tweeted about the above video:
"President Trump's conversation with Obama at Jimmy Carter's funeral revealed: "He was charming him!"
"He offered him to go play golf with him."
"In the aftermath of the election, Trump was actually interacting with Kamala Harris, with Biden, with Obama. All of his interactions were pretty friendly."
Oh My: Check Kamala's Reaction to Obama Talking to Trump
Now we know what they were chuckling about, at least according to this book, but the two also had more pertinent things to discuss. What, exactly, is not known:
The two men are believed to have used their lighthearted facial expressions to mask a more serious conversation from prying eyes.
At one point, Trump told Obama they had to “find a quiet place” later in the day to discuss a “matter of importance,” forensic lip reader Jeremy Freeman told The Post...
“I can’t talk, we have to find a quiet place sometime. This is a matter of importance and we need to do this outside so that we can deal with it, certainly, today,” Trump said, as Obama nodded.
While they appeared to actually like each other, at least in the moment, and although Trump said he "didn’t realize how friendly” Obama was, I still seriously doubt these two will become BFFs or be seen together on a Trump golf course any time soon.
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