Trump, anxious about Epstein, knows he'll never measure up to Obama. It kills him.
President Donald Trump – who seems existentially worried about the Jeffrey Epstein files – has suffered an intense flareup of Obama Derangement Syndrome, ludicrously accusing the former Democratic president of 'treason' and 'trying to lead a coup.'
On July 23, his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, used a White House press briefing to repeat farcical claims that Obama, via U.S. intelligence agencies' investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, was part of 'a yearslong coup' and 'a treasonous conspiracy.'
It's a dishonest, predictable and addled attempt at distraction, as Democrats and the MAGA base push for a full accounting of the government's evidence against Epstein, the longtime Trump pal and convicted sex offender who died in jail awaiting sex trafficking charges.
Trump's stressed about the Epstein files – time to blame Obama!
Whenever Trump's back is against the wall, you can count on him reverting to beloved MAGA conspiracies about former President Barack Obama. The popular former president lives rent-free in Trump's predominantly vacant mind, and Trump's jealousy of Obama has always been palpable. With good reason.
Obama left office with a 59% approval rating, according to Gallup. At the end of Trump's first term, his approval rating was a weak 34%.
Obama never lost a presidential race. Trump did.
Trump will never be as well-regarded as Obama, and it kills him
Obama stabilized the U.S. economy following the Great Recession, opened up health care for millions of Americans with the Affordable Care Act and oversaw the killing of Osama bin Laden. Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and was president while his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol and attempted to overturn a free and fair election.
Obama is younger than Trump, fitter than Trump and has a Nobel Peace Prize that clearly drives Trump crazy. But worst of all, Obama doesn't seem to fear the release of the Epstein files or have any historical connection to the notorious former financier. Obama is not a felon who was convicted for falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to an adult-film star.
Which brings us back to Trump's current Obama-blaming.
At Trump's behest, Gabbard bends reality to claim an Obama-led coup
Rather than releasing the Epstein files – as 89% of Americans want the government to do, according to a recent CBS News poll – Trump had Gabbard release declassified intelligence documents relating to investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 election that Trump won.
Gabbard trumpeted the documents as revealing a 'treasonous conspiracy in 2016' by Obama and others that was 'essentially a years-long coup.'
Opinion: You're paying attention to the wrong conspiracy: A message from the White House
Trump said, incorrectly: 'This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election.'
He also called Obama 'sedcacious,' by which I assume he meant 'seditious,' but it doesn't matter because one isn't a word and the other is a lie.
Trump wants to arrest Obama for ... something. Good luck, buddy.
What Gabbard released are cherry-picked documents that wrongly conflate two elements of the investigation into Russian activity surrounding the 2016 election. The intelligence community examined whether Russian actors hacked actual U.S. election infrastructure AND whether Russian actors tried to influence the election by releasing hacked documents and using troll farms to stoke division and spread misinformation on social media. They found no evidence of the former, but ample evidence of the latter.
There's nothing controversial about any of that. In fact, in 2018, Trump himself said: 'I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place.'
Opinion: Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate
The investigation started before Trump had even been elected, and the Obama administration never claimed the election was illegitimate or did anything to impede Trump's presidency.
As University of Missouri law professor Frank O. Bowman III told PolitiFact regarding Gabbard's document release and Trump's allegation of a coup: 'Nothing in her document even shows that Obama tried to put his finger on the scale on either the information leak conclusion or the 'election infrastructure' conclusion. And even if he had, that would not be a 'coup.' Or indeed a crime of any kind.'
A 'laughable' attempt to distract Americans from the Epstein files
Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said July 23: 'When you have nothing to present that's affirmative to the American people, Republicans blame Barack Obama. It's laughable.'
He's right. Trump has acute Obama Derangement Syndrome and will always exist as a low-brow carnival barker yapping nonsensically in Obama's shadow.
Showing far more class than Trump deserves, an Obama spokesperson released this statement: 'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.'
That would be the same Marco Rubio who is Trump's Secretary of State. Sick burn.
Every mention of Obama makes Trump look more worried about Epstein
Trump can blather and holler all he wants about Obama, but all it's going to do is show sane Americans two things:
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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