Donald Trump’s old blog posts say he was pro-marriage equality, thought Obama was ‘absolutely right’

Donald Trump may be rocking a lot of boats today, but once upon a time he was pro-same-sex marriage and a big supporter of US President Barack Obama.

New unearthed blog posts written by Trump over 10 years ago and published on the Trump University website, portrays the image of a less controversial, argumentative man -- one who even praised President Obama as “absolutely right”, and whose statements contradict some of the ideas he espouses today.

The Republican frontrunner had told CNN in June last year that he was “for traditional marriage,” which meant he didn’t support same-sex marriage. However, his blog post in December 2005 praising English music icon Elton John’s wedding to his partner David Furnish reveals the real estate tycoon may actually be a huge supporter of marriage equality after all.

“In any event, I’m very happy for them. If two people dig each other, they dig each other. Good luck, Elton. Good luck, David. Have a great life,” the blog post, which like the others isn't available online anymore but still viewable through the Internet Archive, reads.

Trump, 69, is also one of Obama’s most vocal critics today. As a Republican, he has panned every move the Democratic president has taken in his terms, with his criticisms only growing more frequent and louder when he announced his presidency ambitions last year. It seems this wasn’t always the case as well, though. In a post titled “Obama is Absolutely Right,” published in February 2009, Trump praised the president’s efforts to cap the bonuses of executives from companies that had received a bailout from the government.

“The concept of bailouts is a two-edged sword. If they didn’t do the bailout, we would be in depression No. 2, and maybe it wouldn’t be just as big as depression No. 1, so they really had to do something. We don’t really know if it’s going to work for quite some time. If it’s really wrong – and it could be wrong – we’re going to really have a mess in two years,” he penned.

“We are in a situation that is a trial and error. We’ve never dealt with this before. But I think Obama is doing the right thing and all of us must remain alert to what is happening.”

He also had high praise for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2008, calling her a “smart, tough and very nice person”.

The Clintons were even guests at Trump’s wedding with third wife Melania in 2005. Melania even donated to the “Friends of Hillary Clinton” campaign committee in 2006.

Related: Donald Trump’s wife Melania donated $2.8k to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2006

While his blog posts stand in stark contrast to his statements today, the outspoken would-be president didn’t deny his past opinions, with his rep chalking them up to changing views as a businessman.

“Mr Trump is not a politician. He has been very clear that his views, like Ronald Reagan’s, have evolved over the years,” spokeswoman Hope Hicks said.

As for his friendship with the Clintons, Trump told Fox News earlier this year that as a businessman, he had an obligation to get along with everybody, “including the Clintons, including Democrats and liberals and Republicans and conservatives”.