Trump fires back at Obama and Nikki Haley

After being a punching bag in the State of the Union, Trump counters with his own blows.

By Nick Gass
01/13/16 09:15 AM EST
Updated 01/13/16 12:08 PM EST

Donald Trump got the distinct impression from Barack Obama's final State of the Union that the president doesn't like him much. Not that he cares.

The real estate mogul on Thursday hit back at both Obama and at South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also warned about the dangers of Trump's rhetoric during her GOP response, though also not by name.

Trump, calling in to "Fox and Friends," denounced Obama's speech as the words of a man "living in a fantasy land." When co-host Steve Doocy remarked that it does not appear the president likes him, Trump responded, “I would say that’s probably true. He probably does not."

"You know, not very important to me, but I would say he probably doesn’t," the Republican candidate and poll leader said, reiterating his disdain for the president's failure to acknowledge "radical Islamic terrorism" after the San Bernardino attacks and other threats.

"He's living in a fantasy land. I think this man is living in a fantasy land," said Trump, who added that while "perhaps he was talking about somebody else, but some people think he might have been talking about me.” ("Sure sounded like it," a co-host remarked off-camera.)

Trump featured prominently and repeatedly in Obama's address, even though the president didn't utter his name. He hit at the real estate mogul and other GOP candidates for playing into Americans' base fears and ignoring the great strides the nation has made.

"Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction. What is true — and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious — is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession hit and haven’t let up" Obama said. He continued later in the speech, "That’s why we need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong."

It wasn't the first time Obama has implicitly called out Trump, who has zoomed to the top of the polls in early states and nationally as he has churned out incendiary proposals and heated rhetoric. He kicked off his campaign in June by calling for a giant wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and a wake-up call about the "rapists" that Mexico was sending across the border. He again upended the race when he called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, after the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

Obama in early December condemned Trump just days after he rolled out his anti-Muslim plan. He used a speech honoring the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery to say, "Remember that our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others, regardless of what they look like or where they come from or what their last name is or what faith they practice."

Less than two weeks later, Obama again hit at Trump, saying in an interview with NPR that the real estate mogul was doing so well because he was exploiting the anxieties of "blue-collar men."

The president drove that message home on Tuesday night. "When politicians insult Muslims, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn’t make us safer," Obama said . "That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. And it betrays who we are as a country."

In the Republican response to Obama's address, Haley, who has been the subject of much speculation as a potential vice-presidential pick, warned Americans against following "the siren call of the angriest voices" in the country.

“Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices,” Haley said on Tuesday, adding that she is "the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country.”

Obama throws some SOTU elbows at Trump

Haley on Wednesday morning acknowledged Trump was one of the people she was singling out. "He was one of them, yes. He was one," Haley told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today." "There's other people in the media, there's people in my state. I think we're seeing it across the country. But yes, Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk."

Trump, a master of the counterpunch, let loose on Haley Wednesday morning. He attacked her as being "very weak on illegal immigration" and surmised that if he were not running for president, she would be asking him for campaign cash.

"But she’s weak on illegal immigration, and she certainly has no trouble asking me for campaign contributions, ‘cause over the years she’s asked me for a hell of a lot of money in campaign contributions. So, you know, it’s sort of interesting to hear," he said on "Fox and Friends." "Perhaps, if I weren’t running she’d be in my office asking for money. But now that I’m running, she wants to take a weak side on immigration. I feel very strongly about illegal immigration. She doesn’t, and I think the people in her great state, I love her state, I’m there a lot, and by the way I have a massive lead in South Carolina. We have a massive lead. They’re incredible people, and they feel like I do. Believe me. Because they don’t like what’s happening in our country.”

As far as the prospect of a Trump-Haley ticket? Don't count on it, Trump said.

“Well considering I’m leading in the polls by a lot, I wouldn’t say she’s off to a good start based on what she has just said," he said, when asked about the prospect of picking Haley. "So you know, let’s see what happens. We’ll pick somebody, but we’ll pick somebody who’s very good. But whoever I pick is going to be very strong on illegal immigration. We’ve had it. We’ve had it with illegal immigration. Believe me—this country, and a lot of other things, especially when you look at what’s going on, at the Iran deal and all of the money that goes out and we get nothing for it. So we’ve had it with a lot of things in this country."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/0...y-obama-217707