Other than the occasional indignant tweet or sanctimonious interview, former President Barack Obama has remained relatively quiet while President Donald Trump continues to steadily unravel his predecessor’s legacy.
But behind the scenes, Obama is reportedly working hard to ensure Trump only serves one term in office by way of meeting with and advising top Democrats on how best to confront and defeat Trump ahead of the 2018 and 2020 elections.
One-on-ones with Obama
Politico reported on Monday that Obama has met one-on-one with no less than nine different Democrat contenders for the party’s 2020 nomination to take on Trump, and has engaged in phone conversations or held meetings with several other top party leaders.
Those top contenders include such characters as socialist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, proto-socialist Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Massachusetts Governor — and personal friend — Deval Patrick, and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Obama has also been visited by a number of lesser known potential candidates for 2020, but has yet to be visited by a few of the more well-known candidates, such as Clinton-clone New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and New Jersey Sen. Corey Booker.
Obama has also reportedly been in contact with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez — all of whom urged him to play a greater role in raising funds for the Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterms.
Covered-up conversations
As for his conversations with the potential challengers to Trump, those discussions were held in private and the participants have remained tight-lipped.
That said, the topics of those discussions reportedly centered on how Democrats should weigh their focus on the Russian investigations and bid to impeach Trump versus the “kitchen table issues” that most average voters are mostly concerned about.
All the while, Obama has reportedly cautioned these folks to avoid chasing the shiny objects batted around by Trump and the media and to refrain from hyperventilating over the president’s Twitter feed.
This is all occurring while the former president continues to write his memoir (he is reportedly behind schedule), raise, money for his namesake foundation, and earn big dollars for high-profile speeches.
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It remains unclear at this time if Obama will continue to hang back in the shadows and merely advise those who are taking the fight to Trump or if he will eventually emerge and fight Trump head-on as the elections draw closer.
One thing that is certain, though, is that Obama is definitely an interested party in what happens with Trump, and he doesn’t appear to be sitting idly by while the current president cleans up his messes and erases his legacy one piece at a time.