Trump ‘Begged’ Obama to Play Golf with Him?

In a bizarre moment of presidential desperation, Donald Trump reportedly tried to cozy up to Barack Obama during former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral—by begging him to play golf at one of his own luxury resorts.

The awkward overture, detailed in a bombshell new book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, was made as the two men sat side-by-side in a pew in Atlanta last December. According to authors Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf, Trump leaned in and tried to schmooze his Democratic predecessor with glowing praise of his branded golf courses around the world.

“He was trying to charm Obama like they were old friends,” a person briefed on the exchange told Axios, which obtained an early copy of the book. “He kept going on about how beautiful his courses were—he was clearly hoping to score a game.”

Obama, famously cool and unflappable, didn’t bite.

The scene would be laughable if it weren’t so surreal. Just a few years earlier, Trump had launched his political rise on the racist lie that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. And yet here he was, asking the man he once smeared to join him for a round of golf—as if they’d always been pals.

Publicly, Obama hasn’t said much about the offer. But privately, sources say he viewed the invitation as “completely inappropriate.”

And if there was any lingering civility between the two during Carter’s service, it’s long gone now. In recent months, Obama has slammed Trump’s leadership as “dictatorial” and accused Republicans of enabling behavior “they never would’ve tolerated from any other president.”

At a rally in New York earlier this year, Obama didn’t mince words: “We do not need four years of a wannabe king trying to punish his enemies. America is ready to turn the page.”

Trump, ever thin-skinned, responded with his trademark rage—tearing down Obama’s official portrait inside the White House, mocking his presidential library, and reposting bizarre QAnon memes accusing Obama of imaginary crimes.

He’s also spent a staggering amount of time golfing during his return to power—reportedly logging one in every four days on the links in his first two months alone, racking up an estimated $26 million in taxpayer costs.

Despite Trump’s fixation with Obama’s approval, insiders say the former president isn’t likely to show up for a golf date anytime soon.

“Obama plays golf with friends, not fanboys trying to rehabilitate their image,” one Democratic aide quipped.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

As one political analyst put it, “Trump’s need for validation from Obama is as transparent as it is tragic. And Obama knows better than to play along.”