The incident occurred as Trump and Obama sat beside each other during the funeral proceedings for former President Jimmy Carter at the Washington National Cathedral. A widely shared video clip captured a moment when the two men enjoyed a friendly, brief dialogue, with Obama chuckling as Trump whispered into his ear.

Social media also erupted over Vice President Kamala Harris’s response to the cordial encounter. 

“Trump starts speaking into Barack Obama’s ear. Obama starts cracking up. Kamala Harris turns around and looks at them in disgust,” one user wrote in a post to X. 

“Kamala visibly [furious] after seeing Obama talking with Trump,” another user wrote in response to footage showing Harris pressing her lips together and seemingly heaving a sigh as she observed Obama’s amiable chat with her former rival. 

The affair Thursday follows several exchanges between Obama and Trump that have garnered headlines in recent years.

After Trump launched his bid for his first term in office in 2015, Obama, then-president, mocked his chances of ever assuming the nation’s office. The incident, which occurred on a late-night comedy show, went viral after Trump went on to win the presidency not once but twice. 

Mocking a post in 2016 in which Trump called him “perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States,” Obama responded, “At least I will go down as a president,” and dropped his mic for dramatic emphasis. 

In another moment, Obama’s jokes about Trump at a 2011 White House Correspondent’s Dinner have been credited by some as motivating the Republican leader to get serious about his presidential ambitions. 

“Next year at this time, someone else will be standing here in this very spot, and it’s anyone’s guess who she will be,” Obama said, inferring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election. “Is this dinner too tacky for The Donald? What could he possibly be doing instead? Is he at home, eating a Trump steak, tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel? What’s he doing?”

Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser, said in 2016 that he thought the moment goaded Trump to run for president and seek revenge. 

“I think that is the night he resolves to run for president,” Stone reflected during a FRONTLINE documentary. “I think that he is kind of motivated by it: ‘Maybe I’ll just run. Maybe I’ll show them all.’”

Trump gained attention years before he even ran for president for questioning the validity of Obama’s birth certificate. The Republican leader prominently pushed the “birther” conspiracy that pressed Obama on whether he was born in Hawaii before holding a news conference in 2016 to declare he was indeed born in the United States. 

Trump also made headlines in 2017 for accusing Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. Obama, meanwhile, has raised eyebrows for calling Trump everything from a “fascist” to a “wannabe king” and breaking historical precedent with his harsh criticism of the Republican politician during the 2020 Democratic National Convention. 

The exchange with Trump wasn’t the only time on Thursday Obama had a friendly run-in with a former foe.

Former President George W. Bush has a famously good relationship with Michelle Obama. The two have often been spotted talking and slipping each other small gifts at state events.

While the former first lady wasn’t at Carter’s funeral, Bush made sure to still brush up with the family, giving Barack Obama a tap in the stomach as he passed by on his way to take his seat.