After a long period of silence, Mr. Obama expressed his exasperation on Friday. “When you hear how great the economy’s doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started,” he said in a speech kicking off a midterm campaign blitz. “When you hear about this economic miracle that’s been going on, when the job numbers come out, monthly job numbers, suddenly Republicans are saying it’s a miracle. I have to kind of remind them, actually, those job numbers are the same as they were in 2015 and 2016.”
Mr. Trump made clear he does not plan to surrender to his predecessor easily. “He was trying to take credit for this incredible thing that’s happening,” Mr. Trump told supporters in his own appearance in Fargo, N.D., shortly after Mr. Obama’s televised speech. “It wasn’t him.” He added that the recovery under Mr. Obama was the weakest in history.
In the days since Mr. Obama spoke out on Friday, Mr. Trump has kept up the argument. On Twitter, he retweeted a supporter’s message: “Watching @BarackObama take credit for @realDonaldTrump successes is disgraceful.”
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