Trump uses Jesse Jackson tribute to take further swipe at Obama and Democrats
Civil rights leader Jackson dieda aged 84 on Tuesday.
Donald Trump has used his tribute to Reverend Jesse Jackson to take a further swipe at Barack Obama and the Democrats.
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Longtime civil rights activist and two-time presidential candidate Rev. Jackson died at the age of 84, his family confirmed on Tuesday.
Following the news, the president issued a personal statement on social media describing Jackson as a "good man" with "lots of personality," before going on to take a swipe at his rivals.
He claimed that Jackson, who ran twice as the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, "could not stand" Obama.
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Trump also claimed Obama failed to acknowledge or give credit to Jackson for having "much to do" with his presidential win in 2008.
He wrote: "Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand."
Trump's tribute, posted on Truth Social, also boasted that he helped sign criminal justice reform into law during his first administration as a favour to Jackson.
The latest swipe at Obama comes after his office posted an AI-generated video that depicted the former president and first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The clip, which was posted onto the US president's own social media network, showed the faces of the former American leader and his wife on the bodies of the animals.
When their faces come into shot, the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' can be heard playing in the background.
When asked about the video while onboard Air Force One last week, Trump said that "of course" he condemned the racist parts of the video, but told reporters he would not apologise.
The White House previously confirmed that a junior staffer was responsible.
Appearing to break his silence on the matter, Obama told liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen that the tone of political discourse "has devolved to a level of cruelty that we haven't seen before."
Trump's tribute to Jackson added: "I knew him well, long before becoming President. He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and street smarts.
"He was very gregarious - Someone who truly loved people! Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way.
"I provided office space for him and his Rainbow Coalition, for years, in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street; Responded to his request for help in getting CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM passed and signed, when no other President would even try."
Jackson's cause of death was not immediately given and his family said he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones.
In 2017, the renowned civil right's leader revealed he had Parkinson's. Last November he was hospitalised in Chicago for progressive supranuclear palsy - a rare brain disease.
Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and rose to prominence in the civil rights era, participating in demonstrations alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.