Now Obama takes a swipe at Donald

FORMER US President Barack Obama made a veiled attack on Donald Trump on Thursday as he broke his silence on the nation’s toxic political climate.

He and George W Bush made separate speeches that appeared to rebuke the current president. Neither mentioned Trump by name.

Mr Obama, addressing audiences in New Jersey and Virginia where he was supporting Democrat candidates for state governor, urged Americans to reject the politics of division and fear.

‘What we can’t have is the same old politics of division that we have seen so many times before that dates back centuries,’ he told the New Jersey rally.

‘Some of the politics we see now, we thought we put that to bed. That’s folks looking 50 years back.’

Hours later, in Virginia, he said: ‘If you have to win a campaign by dividing people ... You won’t be able to unite them later.’

Meanwhile, Mr Bush decried ‘bullying and prejudice’ in a speech Speaking out: Barack Obama in New York on the same day. Americans have ‘seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty’, he said.

He added that ‘at times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together’.

Analysts said the speeches were unprecedented, ending the tradition of former presidents not criticising the incumbent.

Mr Trump did not immediately respond to the speeches.