Former President Barack Obama blasted current President Donald Trump in a rare public rebuke, calling out Trump’s “shambolic, disorganized, mean-spirited approach to governance” and accusing him of dividing the country.
- “What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be,” Obama said during the fundraiser.
- Obama condemned Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and how the president downplayed the threat of COVID-19.
- The former president said “help is on the way if we do the work,” urging Americans to vote for Biden, saying there is no one he trusts more to “heal this country and get it back on track.”
- “We can’t be complacent or smug or say it’s so obvious this president hasn’t done a good job,” Obama said of Trump. “Look. He won once.”
Former President Barack Obama slammed current President Donald Trump for his “shambolic, disorganized, mean-spirited approach to governance” and for labeling a “deadly disease” like COVID-19 as “fake news.”
Obama spoke at a virtual grassroots fundraiser Tuesday with former Vice President Joe Biden in their first joint appearance for the Biden campaign. Obama formally endorsed his former vice president back in April following Sen. Bernie Sander’s withdrawal from the 2020 presidential race.
“What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be,” Obama said during the fundraiser.
The former president went on to condemn Trump for previously downplaying the threat of the coronavirus, initially comparing it to the seasonal flu and a “hoax.”
“That suggests facts don’t matter, science doesn’t matter, that suggests a deadly disease is fake news,” Obama said, adding that he felt bad for “poor Dr. Fauci,” the US’ top infectious disease expert, “who’s having to testify and then see his advice flouted by the person he’s working for.”
Obama went on to blast Trump for “actively” promoting “division” and for considering “some American in this country more real than others.”
“That, we haven’t seen out of the White House in a very long time,” Obama said.
Trump mocked Obama for rallying against him in the 2016 election and Trump winning it anyway, he said at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, which took place not long after the Obama-Biden fundraiser.
“I’m only here because of President Obama and the job he did, [and Biden and] the job he didn’t do,” Trump said during the rally.
At the fundraiser, Obama said “help is on the way if we do the work,” urging Americans to go out and vote for Biden, saying there is no one he trusts more to “heal this country and get it back on track.”
“We can’t be complacent or smug or say it’s so obvious this president hasn’t done a good job,” Obama said of Trump. “Look. He won once.”
On the virtual fundraiser, Biden announced that the joint effort between him and Obama brought in $7.6 million from 175,000 donors, making it the campaign’s highest-grossing event thus far.
Upon closing the event, Obama addressed Biden, saying “we need to make you president. Love you, Joe.”
“Love you too, pal,” Biden replied.
