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THE truth behind President Donald Trump and rival Barack Obama’s cheery conversation at Jimmy Carter’s funeral has been unveiled in a new book.
Top reporters lifted the lid on what had Obama laughing in the church pews after interviewing over 350 people involved in the tense 2024 presidential election.
On January 9, after Trump had handily defeated rival Kamala Harris, all of the leaders save for Michelle Obama put aside their political differences to help bury Carter.
Americans were struck by pictures of the event that captured Obama breaking out into a wide grin as he spoke with Trump, who was preparing to be inaugurated.
The pair was seated beside each other for the proceedings while stone-faced Harris sat coldly behind them.
It was far different from 2018, when Melania Trump sat in between the two rivals for George H. W. Bush’s funeral after the reality TV star had defeated Hillary Clinton.
Now, in the book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, sources have revealed that Trump broke a smile out of his rival by inviting him to play golf at one of his elite clubs.
Trump had Obama in stiches as he was “enticing him with descriptions of Trump’s courses around the world,” the passage reads, according to Axios.
And this wasn’t the only time that the president spoke about his favorite sport with his political rivals, according to authors Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf.
The three journalists, who covered the campaign together for the Washington Post, spoke with hundreds of sources who gave a behind-the-scenes look at how Harris and Biden conceded to Trump.
They wrote that Trump also had a friendly chat with Biden when the incumbant congratulated his arch nemesis on his win and invited him to visit the White House.
“In another life, we would be friends and go golfing,” Trump said, according to the reporters.
HARRIS’ STEP DOWN
Meanwhile, Harris and Trump had a much icier conversation filled with technical difficulties when she admitted defeat.
The vice president’s aides had a lot of difficulty merging their calls, and resulted to holding two phones on speaker close together so everyone could speak.
In the midst of the fumbling, Trump joked “Phone service isn’t what it used to be,” according to the book.
The Republican leader called Harris a “tough cookie” and complimented her husband Douglas Emhoff.
He failed to compliement her campaign and only said, “she’d given him a run for his money.”
The book says, “Even her aides described him as gracious.”
Meanwhile, Harris was described as “professional but not warm” and told her rival that the “country was too divided” and that “she hoped he would be a president for all Americans.”
Timeline of Biden’s failed re-election bid
President Joe Biden endured weeks of calls to step aside before he announced on July 21 that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. Here are key developments leading up to his decision.
June 27: Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump sparks calls for him to step aside. His voice was raspy and he trailed off several times after having already endured questions about his age and mental capacity following a series of blunders at public events.
July 2: Polls after the debate indicate that Trump is pulling ahead. Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett was the first Democratic congressman to publicly urge Biden to drop his bid for re-election, and big Democratic donors issued the same call a day later.
July 5: Biden does a live TV interview with George Stephanopoulos where he tries to quell fears about his age and debate performance. He called the debate “bad night” and said he was under the weather and “exhausted.”
July 10: Vermont Senator Peter Welch becomes the first senator to call for Biden to drop out.
July 11: Biden refers to Ukrainian President Zelensky as President Putin at a NATO event.
July 13: Trump is shot at a campaign rally by a wannabe assassin. His popularity and favorability rating soared after he was seen bloodied on stage but walked off with a fist in the air, telling the crowd to “fight!”
July 17: California Representative Adam Schiff and a series of other Democrats call for Biden to step aside. Even former President Barack Obama tells allies that Biden’s path to victory has “greatly diminished.” Biden tests positive for Covid-19 hours after saying he would consider ending his bid if he were diagnosed with “some medical issue.”
July 19: Biden insists he will continue campaigning in his first statement since Obama’s U-turn, despite reports that he would decide to drop out by the weekend.
July 21: Just before 2 pm, Biden announces he is stepping aside in the 2024 election and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris.
BIDEN OPENS UP ON TRUMP WIN
Two months after Biden stepped down from the White House, Pager gave him a call and the two had a brief chat.
The reporter was asking him to sit down for an interview for the book when the former president said he had a “very negative” view of Trump’s second term.
“I don’t see anything he’s done as productive,” Biden said, according to the authors.
When quizzed on whether he regretted not stepping down earlier, Biden said, “No, not now. I don’t spend a lot of time on regrets.”
