President-elect Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama‘s viral conversation and laughter this week pointed to a growing acquiescence among the Democratic Party of Trump’s incoming return to global power.
The pair were seated next to each other during former President Jimmy Carter’s memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. However, despite their antagonistic relationship over the past decade, the two were seen briefly chatting in what looked like a cordial conversation.
“It did look very friendly, I must say,” Trump joked about the conversation afterward. “I didn’t realize it how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network [Fox News], just a little while ago before I came in and I said, ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other,’ and we probably do.”
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He didn’t divulge the exact details of the conversation.
“We have little different philosophies, right? We probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with everybody on that. You know, we met backstage before we went on, and I thought it was a beautiful service, but we all got along very well, which is good,” Trump explained.
Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based Republican operative, slammed Obama’s chumminess with Trump at the Carter memorial, which saw five living current and former presidents attend, as a sign of Democrats overflowing their attacks against Trump.
“For nine years, [Trump] is called a threat to democracy and Hitler,” O’Connell said. “You get the club of five together, and all of a sudden, the whole thing’s a lie, which was obvious from day one. He was never a threat to democracy, but this is the narrative that Democrats push.”
Trump and Obama’s political rivalry has led to bitter attacks during the past three presidential campaigns.
Yet after Trump’s decisive win against Vice President Kamala Harris, Obama and his fellow Democrats acknowledged that Trump is poised for at least two years to enact his legislative agenda with control of both chambers of Congress.
There aren’t major indications of Democratic appetite for a “resistance” level of opposition to Trump during his second term. Trump’s sweeping of the seven battleground states and winning the popular vote indicated dissatisfaction from the American public with Democrats.
“Democrats, understand that there’s nothing they can do to stop Trump’s ascension back to the White House. That is a reality,” said Brian Seitchik, a national Republican strategist, before cautioning Democrats not to dismiss Trump’s agenda immediately. “Taking a posture of reflexively rejecting everything Donald Trump says, or every policy he proposes, is a recipe for disaster.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is perhaps the most willing Democrat to reach across the aisle since Trump’s November victory.
This week, Fetterman announced he would make the trek to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence, becoming the first Democratic senator to meet with the president-elect.
“I’m the senator of Pennsylvania, not just for Democrats. It’s for every Pennsylvanian, and that’s going to be the president,” Fetterman told reporters Thursday. “It’s just about having a conversation.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat is also among the increased number of Senate and House Democrats who are backing the GOP-led Laken Riley Act. Fetterman was the first Democrat in the upper chamber to co-sponsor the bill, followed by newly elected Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
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The bill, the first piece of legislation passed out of the GOP-led House, is in honor of a Georgia nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan national in the United States illegally.
The House cleared the legislation Tuesday in a 264-159 vote, with 48 House Democrats in support of the bill, which calls for the detention of migrants accused of theft-related crimes. During the 118th Congress, which concluded last week, only 37 House Democrats voted for the Laken Riley Act.
Seitchik referenced the critical role Pennsylvania will play in 2028 as one reason Fetterman may be so willing to reach across the aisle.
“John Fetterman knows that he is a senator from the swingiest of swing states, Pennsylvania, knows that his reelection to the Senate in 2028 is just a few years away,” he said. “And to win reelection, he is absolutely going to have to win over Trump voters.”
Democrats in the other swing states have also appeared willing to work in tandem with the GOP.
Another newly sworn-in lawmaker, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), said she would vote in support of the Laken Riley Act before the Senate held a procedural vote Thursday.
“Like many bills, this one isn’t perfect, and I’m hopeful there will be an amendment process,” she wrote on X.
“Michiganders have spoken loudly and clearly that they want action to secure our southern border. We must get past petty partisanship that continues to dominate the immigration debate,” she also wrote.
Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) were other swing state Democrats in the upper chamber who voiced support for the bill.
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The Senate voted 84-9 to advance the bill, easily overcoming the filibuster. However, Democrats such as Slotkin have called for an amendment process before the Senate votes to pass the Laken Riley Act next week.
Fetterman has also indicated he will support some of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for secretary of state and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump’s controversial Health and Human Services nominee, met with Democrats, including Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) ahead of his confirmation hearing.
O’Connell, the Florida operative, cautioned that Democrats were playing nice for now, but that could change once Trump is sworn-in as president for the second time.
“Democrats and some in the media are being a little bit more friendly, obviously (because) he’s the president-elect,” O’Connell said. “But the other thing is on the Democrat side, most of them don’t know why they lost … Look at the senators who are going to essentially vote for the Laken Riley Act. They’re all in states that Trump won. The rest of them don’t seem to understand that there was three things that killed them, which was obviously inflation, immigration, and public safety.”
Non-swing state Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) have said they will work with Trump on matters that will benefit American families. However, they also said they will fight against Trump if his policies will hurt the American public.
“They’re virtue signaling saying, ‘Oh, we’re happy to work with the president.’ Well, the bottom line is talk is cheap, action is what matters,” O’Connell added.
Samantha-Jo Roth contributed to this report.
