Just a few days after America’s more forgiving souls suggested that President Donald Trump was finally settling into his “presidential” shoes—because he managed to give a simple speech to Congress without calling any of his opponents ugly, or demanding dissenters be dragged out of the crowd by force—America woke up today to the news that Trump had suffered another one of his Obama nightmares overnight. Unlike last time, when Trump simply accused his predecessor of organizing all those paid protesters to come stand outside his office—or on city streets in the millions across the nation—and yell at him, Trump’s accusations against his personal White House boogeyman were now centered on the idea that Obama had ordered the tapping of Trump Tower phones in the run-up to the election.
Now, to be fair to Trump—not necessarily a pleasant phrase to type—it’s not like widespread and invasive government surveillance was never part of the Obama playbook. But Trump offered no evidence for his claims, which he tweeted out at 7:30 this morning, in between yelling about Jeff Sessions and The Celebrity Apprentice. He cited no documents, posted no pictures, and made nothing but accusations and comparisons to Richard Nixon. He didn’t make a case to the American people, presumably because, for good or bad, the case was already made in people’s minds by dint of Donald Trump being the one who said it, and Barack Obama being the one accused. Which, y’know, is why most presidents don’t run their office via stream of consciousness screaming onto their overactive microblog.
Trump vaguely hinted at some possible legal action relating to the claims, suggesting “a good lawyer could make a great case” out of this—although it would probably actually require a “great” or even a “very excellent” lawyer, unless Trump has some actual evidence to back up his claim—but resisted the urge to actually call for Obama to be tossed in jail. See? He is more presidential than he used to be.
UPDATE: Kevin Lewis, spokesperson for former President Obama, has responded to Trump’s allegations, flatly denying that the Obama White House had anything to do with any investigation into the goings-on at Trump Tower: