The barbs were flying between President Trump and his predecessor before night 3 of the Democratic National Convention even began. Excerpts of Barack Obama's DNC speech were released in advance, including his comment that he had once hoped Trump "might show some interest in taking the job seriously." Before the night officially kicked off, Trump tweeted, "Welcome, Barack and Crooked Hillary. See you on the field of battle!" (Hillary Clinton also spoke Wednesday night at the virtual convention.) Then, while apparently watching Obama's speech in real time, Trump tweeted, "HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT!" and then, "WHY DID HE REFUSE TO ENDORSE SLOW JOE UNTIL IT WAS ALL OVER, AND EVEN THEN WAS VERY LATE? WHY DID HE TRY TO GET HIM NOT TO RUN?" More on Obama's speech and the rest of the evening:
- Trump also slammed Obama during a press conference before the DNC events got started. "President Obama did not do a good job. And the reason I'm here is because of President Obama and Joe Biden, because if they did a good job I wouldn't be here. And probably, if they did a good job, I wouldn't have even run," he said.
- Fox News calls Obama's speech "a blistering attack" while Deadline goes with "scathing." Other lines included, "He’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends" and "Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t." Obama said that during Trump's presidency we've seen "our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before."