PoliticoTrump attacks Obama and Harris speeches in real-time, all-caps tweets

The US president has attempted to offer counterprogramming to the Democratic convention

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Published: 1:29pm, 20 Aug 2020Updated: 1:29pm, 20 Aug 2020

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Caitlin Oprysko on politico.com on August 20, 2020.

US President Donald Trump did not hide that he was closely following the third night of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, firing off tweets in real time as former president Barack Obama and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris delivered withering criticisms of his presidency.

The first of Trump's all-caps broadsides came less than 10 minutes into his predecessor’s speech, as Obama unleashed a blistering attack on Trump’s presidency and his character.

“HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT!” Trump accused Obama, repeating a false conspiracy theory stemming from the FBI’s surveillance of Trump campaign associates in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Trump fired off a second tweet seven minutes later, implying that there was more to the story behind Obama waiting until his former vice-president, Joe Biden, cleared a crowded field of Democratic White House hopefuls before endorsing him.

“WHY DID HE REFUSE TO ENDORSE SLOW JOE UNTIL IT WAS ALL OVER, AND EVEN THEN WAS VERY LATE? WHY DID HE TRY TO GET HIM NOT TO RUN?” the president wrote.

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The US president has attempted to offer counterprogramming to the Democratic convention

The US president has attempted to offer counterprogramming to the Democratic convention