Obama Reveals True Thoughts On Trump: "He's Nothing But A Bullshitter"

People Magazine decided to dedicate their cover story this month to their beloved "cool, even-keeled, no-drama Barack Obama."  And even though it will come as surprise to precisely no one, the story apparently includes the "bombshell" revelation that....wait for it...Obama can"t stand Trump...shocking, we know.

According to two anonymous sources friendly with the Obamas, People Magazine revealed that Obama frequently describes Trump as "nothing but a bullshitter"...

“He’s nothing but a bullsh–ter,” Obama told two friends early last November, describing an election night phone call with Trump, in which the businessman suddenly professed his “respect” and “admiration” for Obama—after years of hectoring.

Speaking to PEOPLE for its new cover story on Obama and his wife Michelle adjusting to life outside the White House, the two friends quoted Obama’s blunt assessment of President-elect Trump. And how has Obama’s opinion changed since Trump been in office? “Well,” said one of the sources, “it hasn’t gotten any better.”

...all of which is odd because they seemed so friendly and comfortable in this pic of their first Oval Office meeting.

Meanwhile, after hinting that he would lead the opposition movement against Trump, Obama"s friends now say he plans to be "very respectful of the appropriate role of a former president."  Which we assume can be loosely translated to mean that he"s not interested in playing petty political games when he can focus on making millions of dollars selling 1-hour speeches to Wall Street for $400k a pop.

A third source close to Obama tells PEOPLE: “He’s deeply concerned with what he’s seen. But he’s also optimistic and heartened that citizens aren’t just watching it happen but engaging with neighbors and elected representatives at town halls.”

“He’s very respectful of the appropriate role of a former president and that ex-presidents should not be looking over the shoulder of their successors and commenting on every decision,” says Obama’s long-time friend and political strategist David Axelrod, now director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.

“President Obama’s predecessor didn’t do that. Obviously, this now is a unique set of circumstances, but my sense is that he’s going to try and respect that tradition while reserving the right to speak out in given moments when things rise to that level.”

Meanwhile, the always classy Michelle Obama apparently takes humor in telling her pals that she"s "going all black for the next couple of years" to mourn the Trump presidency. 

Obamas To Make Over $60 Million From Book Deal

Update: shortly after the news hit that various publishing houses are caught in a bidding war over the Obamas" upcoming memoirs, Penguin Random House issued a press release that it was the winner and will publish forthcoming books by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, concluding a heated auction among multiple publishers.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The Obamas were represented by Robert Barnett and Deneen Howell of Williams & Connolly.

“We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with President and Mrs. Obama. With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same,” the chief executive of Penguin Random House, Markus Dohle, said in a statement. “Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance.”

Earlier:

What took the Clintons years of confidential speeches before major investment banks and middle eastern clients of the Treasury Department, the Obama"s plan to achieve with just two books.  According to the FT, several publishers are participating in a blockbuster auction for the global rights to two books by Barack and Michelle Obama where the bid has reached more than $60 million. The Obamas, who are writing separate books but selling the rights jointly, stand to make a record amount for their presidential memoirs.

The publishers involved in the auction for "the most hotly anticipated publishing deal of the year" include Penguin Random House, which published Obama’s previous three books, and HarperCollins, which ironically is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News. Simon & Schuster, which is owned by CBS, and Macmillan, are also in the mix. As the FT points out, a win by HarperCollins would bring the Obamas into the same publishing house as Bill O’Reilly, the author and Fox News Channel presenter who has been one of the former president’s fiercest critics.

For now, Penguin Random House is reportedly leading the pack for the publishing deal with a decision on the winning bid expected imminently.

With the price set to surpass $60 million, rhe sum offered would eclipse other book deals secured by departing presidents, and would be four times greater than the $15 million Bill Clinton received from Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House, for his 2004 memoirs My Life when he left the White House. George W Bush made an estimated $10 million from his book Decision Points.

The FT also notes that Robert Barnett, Obama’s literary agent who is fielding offers on behalf of the former president, has become a power player for politicians seeking big book deals. He brokered Tony Blair’s £4.5 million contract with Penguin Random House, which is jointly owned by UK education group Pearson and Bertelsmann, the German media company.

Obama has extensive prior book authoring experience, having gained a reputation as a writer before entering the White House with his bestselling books Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Obama previously disclosed that he earned $8.8 million from The Audacity of Hope, and the children’s book Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, according to a report by Forbes. Sales of his first memoir, Dreams from My Father, published in paperback in 2004, brought in a further $6.8m in royalties.

However, it is the prospect of a joint book deal with his wife Michelle that has propelled the auction to record-breaking levels and has set the publishing industry alight.

Obama Spotted Vacationing On Private Island With Billionaire Buddy Branson

After spending nearly $100 million taxpayer dollars on vacations over the course of 8 years (see "Obama"s Vacation Costs Expected To Top $90 Million Over 8 Years"), Obama couldn"t wait to retire to go on even more vacations.  In fact, the Obamas wrapped up their last official $4 million, taxpayer-funded trip to Hawaii on January 2nd, then departed the White House on January 20th and headed straight for Palm Springs for some golf just before joining Billionaire Richard Branson on his private island in the British Virgin Islands. 

Of course, the pictures that have emerged are sure to give Chris Matthews, as well as many of his other colleagues as MSNBC, that old fashioned "thrill up the leg" as they long for the good ole days under Obama rule.

And here is Branson"s blog post detailing a friendly kitesurfing competition which, of course, Obama won...but, as Branson noted, he was totally cool with the loss because of "all [Obama] has done for the world."

So it was tremendous to offer him the chance to learn to kitesurf. The sport has really taken off in the past decade and we have the perfect conditions and team to help anyone learn. I have also wanted to learn foilboard surfing. So we decided to set up a friendly challenge: could Barack learn to kitesurf before I learned to foilboard? We agreed to have a final day battle to see who could stay up the longest.

Barack started learning to kitesurf on the beach on Necker for two days solid, picking up the basics and flying a kite as if going back to being a child again. Then he went into the water, standing up and getting a feel for the kite. Finally, he put the board at his feet and gave it a go. Being the former president of America, there was lots of security around, but Barack was able to really relax and get into it.

As you can see in the video, Barack and I both fell many times, but we kept trying again and again and made progress over the days. We were neck and neck until the last run on the last day, when I got up on the foilboard and screamed along for over 50 metres, three feet above the water. I was feeling very pleased with myself, only to look over and see Barack go 100 metres on his kiteboard! I had to doff my cap to him and celebrate his victory.

After all he has done for the world, I couldn’t begrudge him his well-deserved win. Now he has left, I’m going back into the water to practice for the next challenge. On his next visit, we plan to do the long kite over to Anegada together. Next time, may the best (British) man win!

meanwhile, obama is chilling pic.twitter.com/7wQ0MFjkLO

— Philip Bump (@pbump) February 7, 2017

They even made this cool highlight video which we presume will become the new MSNBC intro video, effective immediately. 

It"s a hard-knock life for retired community organizers...

Trump Responds To Michelle Obama's Claim That He Is The "End Of Hope" For America

Michelle Obama appeared on Oprah yesterday and continued to ignore the unspoken, but widely acknowledged and obeyed, tradition of not bashing incoming administrations.  When asked whether Obama was successful at bringing "hope" to America, rather answer the question, the first lady decided to attack Trump by saying that "now we"re feeling what not having hope feels like."

Is this Michelle"s idea of "going high" when other "go low?"  Notice she didn"t bother to offer any supporting evidence of how exactly Obama brought "hope" to Americans....could that be because there isn"t any?

Oprah:  "Your husband"s administration, everything, the election was all about hope.  Do you think that this administration acheived that?"

Michelle:  "Yes.  I do.  Because we feel the difference now.  See, now we"re feeling what not having hope feels like."

Perhaps these 9 charts we posted back in September accurately depict the "hope" that Michelle spoke of (see "Harvard Crushes The "Obama Recovery" Farce With 9 Simple Charts"):

Or maybe these charts that we posted back in June better reflect Obama"s "Hope & Change" mantra...unfortunately, while the data scores big on the "Change" factor, it"s somewhat lacking on the "Hope" component (see "These Are The 9 Zero Hedge Charts Showing "Obama"s Recovery" That Angered The Washington Post"):

Or perhaps this 16% decline in Black homeownership rates since 2004, which we discussed just yesterday, is more what Michelle had in mind (see "Obama "Housing Recovery" Crushes "Blacks, Young Adults" As Homeownership Rates Crash"):

Of course, never one to back down when attacked, Trump told a group of supporters at a rally in Mobile, Alabama that he assumed Michelle was "talking about the past, not the future."

“Michelle Obama said yesterday that there’s no hope.  But I assume she was talking about the past, not the future because I"m telling you we have tremendous hope and we have tremendous promise and we have tremendous potential.”