In a rare moment of apparent camaraderie, former President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump were seen sharing a conversation ahead of former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday. However, while the two appeared to be smiling and laughing, a professional lip reader who analyzed the interaction revealed that their exchange may have been much more serious than it seemed on the surface.
One moment during the exchange saw Trump lean toward Obama and mention, “I’ve pulled out of that. It’s the conditions. Can you imagine that?” Freeman speculated this comment could be in reference to Trump’s controversial decision to pull the U.S. out of both the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement, though the exact subject of the discussion remains a mystery.
Their conversation took a more serious turn when Trump said, “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,” to which Obama nodded in agreement.
Despite the more cordial tone of the interaction, the relationship between Trump and Obama has been historically strained. Trump, a leading figure in the “birther” movement that questioned Obama’s birthplace, frequently clashed with his predecessor. The tension continued after the 2016 election when Trump accused Obama of orchestrating a federal surveillance operation against his campaign over alleged ties to Russia.
In a world of sharp political divides and public feuds, the brief but intriguing conversation between Obama and Trump at the funeral raised eyebrows, leaving many to wonder what’s next in the ongoing complex relationship between the two.