By Eugene Robinson
Is it my imagination, or is President Trump’s chronic and debilitating case of Obama Envy getting worse?
One of the things that genuinely seems to matter to Trump is comparing himself — favorably, of course — to his predecessor, no matter how delusional the rationale. Trump gave an illustration at the end of the G-7 summit, when he insisted to reporters that former president Obama had been “outsmarted” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s full-blown Putin Envy was also on display. But the president’s false and absurd rewriting of history seemed intended less to elevate the Russian leader than to diminish Obama. It fit a pattern that goes back years — and may have more to do with Trump’s behavior in office than we realize.
At Trump’s news conference Monday in Biarritz, France, the subject was whether Russia should be invited to rejoin the group of industrialized powers that used to be called the G-8. Russia was kicked out in 2014 after Putin sent military forces into neighboring Ukraine to seize and annex the Crimean Peninsula. The decision by member countries — the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy — to eject Russia, because of its unprovoked aggression, was unanimous.
[Featured Image: WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 10: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks while meeting with President-elect Donald Trump (L) following a meeting in the Oval Office November 10, 2016 in Washington, DC. Trump is scheduled to meet with members of the Republican leadership in Congress later today on Capitol Hill. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)]
