7 Presidential Acts That Donald Trump Did Himself But Criticized Barack Obama For The Same
7 Hypocritical Acts: Trump Criticized Obama but Then Did the Same
Donald Trump has made a name for relentlessly criticizing his political rivals. The businessman-turned-politician succeeded President Barack Obama in 2017 when he was elected as the 45th president of the United States. In the race for the seat at the Oval Office, Obama is among those who bore the brunt of Trump's verbal diarrhea. Unsurprisingly, there were certain presidential acts and policies that Trump called out Obama for but did it himself later on. Here's a roundup of those actions.
1. Tax-payer-funded travel costs
The 44th president of the United States often took to X, formerly Twitter, and ranted about Obama's tax-payer-funded travel costs for his holiday trips home to Hawaii. The Republican front-runner tweeted in 2011, "The habitual vacationer, @BarackObama, is now in Hawaii. This vacation is costing taxpayers $4 million +++ while there is 20% unemployment." The unemployment figure was greatly exaggerated. While Obama's travel cost was estimated at $97 million over 8 years in office, Trump spent $21 million in just three months.
2. Golf Outings
Trump also called out Obama for playing golf. He made 16 tweets about the first-ever Black president's golf outings and how the government is paying for it. In one tweet from 2014, he wrote, "We pay for Obama's travel so he can fundraise millions so Democrats can run on lies. Then we pay for his golf." However, eighty-seven days into his presidency, Trump made 19 trips to the golf course, while presidents Obama and George W. Bush had made zero, around the same point in their respective first terms.
3. The US Intervention in Syria
The Republican front-runner extensively questioned why America intervened in Syria. In July 2013, he tweeted in all-caps, "WHAT WILL WE GET FOR OUR LIVES AND BILLIONS? ZERO." His rants escalated when a chemical weapons attack killed hundreds in the suburbs of Damascus in August 2013. He slammed Obama and ridiculed him for his White House's debate over whether to engage Syria militarily. But, in April 2017, Trump himself authorized a US military strike against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime's infrastructure.
4. Lack of transparency in governance
In a 2012 viral tweet, Trump accused his predecessor, "Why does Obama believe he shouldn't comply with record releases that his predecessors did of their own volition? Hiding something?" The same year, Trump deemed Obama as the "least transparent president ever." However, he turned around and did the same when the Trump administration refused to release White House visitor logs. Instead, it was announced that the logs would be kept secret for five years after Trump left the White House.
5. Political Acumen
Trump criticized Obama shortly before the 2012 election and accused him of being "a disaster in foreign policy." He asserted, "[Obama] Never had the experience or knowledge." Obama swiftly countered his political rival's assertions. "Foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better," as per The New York Times. It is worth noting that Trump is the only US president with no military or political experience under his belt.
6. Diplomatic Relations
Trump was critical of Obama's diplomatic relations and accused him of "picking fights with our oldest friends" during a foreign policy campaign speech in April 2016, as per Business Insider. Later, during his term, he reportedly blasted Australia's prime minister for his refugee policy in his first-ever calls with foreign leaders after joining the Oval Office. However, he also talked to the president of Taiwan — the first time a US president directly spoke with Taiwan's leadership in over 30 years.
7. Executive Orders
In July 2012, Trump also questioned Obama's executive orders. He tweeted, "Why is [Obama] constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?" and attached a White House document. Contrary to his claims, in his two terms, Obama issued only 277 executive orders, a total at par with his modern predecessors, but the lowest per year average (35) in 120 years. Subsequently, being immune to hypocrisy as always, Trump signed 23 executive orders in just 87 days.
