Donald Trump's relationship with Barack Obama slumps to new low after latest Twitter accusations

Historians say the nature of Mr Trump's attacks on his predecessor are unprecedented

The relationship between Barack Obama and Donald Trump has never been anything less than acrimonious.

For years, Mr Trump headed a toxic, racially-tinged campaign to “prove” that Mr Obama was not born in the US. In rerturn, Mr Obama memorably roasted the TV reality star in a speech at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner, during which Mr Trump sat and glowered.

Yet now, following a brief truce during the transition period during which the two men made efforts to be civil, reports say the relationship between the pair has reached an all-time low.

CNN said the attacks were largely one-sided. While Mr Obama has occasionally quietly disagreed on policy issues with Mr Trump, Mr Trump has routinely attacked his predecessor in harsh terms

This week, he criticised the previous administration’s response to Russia’s alleged efforts to interfere in the election. Last week, it was about Obamacare. And Mr Trump has stood by his widely discredited claim that the Obama administration had eavesdropped on him at Trump Tower.

“He was very nice to me but after that we’ve had some difficulties,” Mr Trump told a CBS interviewer last month. “So it doesn't matter. Words are less important to me than deeds. You saw what happened with surveillance, and everybody saw what happened with surveillance.”

Jeanne Zaino, Professor of Political Science at Iona College in New York, said it was not unusual for presidents to frequently disagree with their predecessors.

Apparently, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower bickered with each other throughout the entire limousine ride from the White House to the US Capitol ahead of Eisenhower’s inauguration in January 1953. Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter also fought over who was responsible for the 1982 recession.

Yet she said that, at least in recent years, such criticism was muted. “Obama used to blame things on George Bush. My point is that this is not new, rather it’s the style in which it is being done,” she told The Independent.

Timothy Naftali, a historian at New York University who formerly served as director of the Richard Nixon presidential library, told CNN: “There have been instances in the past where the current president and a former president do not get along at all.”

He added: “What's different this time is that the two are showing it. That the animosity is so clear, and of course it's more clear on the part of President Trump, but it can be inferred from the actions of President Obama.”