BAM, RIGHT IN THE KISSER!
EX-PREZ TOSSES HAYMAKER AT TRUMP: HE’S A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
Former President Obama reentered the political arena on Friday by launching a blistering critique of his successor, labeling him a “threat to democracy,” and calling for a return to “honesty and decency and lawfulness.”
Obama previewed his 2018 midterm election message as he gears up to campaign on behalf of Democratic candidates across the country while providing his most pointed rebuke to date of President Trump during a speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.
“Just a glance at recent headlines should tell you that this moment really is different,” he told the crowd. “The stakes really are higher. The consequences of any of us sitting on the sidelines are more dire.”
Since Trump took office, Obama has mostly shied away from commenting directly on the current administration.
On Friday, he broke his silence.
Obama openly criticized Trump's actions, rhetoric and policies — and knocked Republicans for “maintaining some phony version of civility” and responding with “vague statements of disappointment” when the President “does something outrageous.”
He said while Trump “is capitalizing on resentments politicians have been fanning for years - a fear and anger rooted in past and born of enormous upheavals, he is the “symptom, not the cause.”
He hit at Trump and the GOP for passing tax reforms that he said benefit the wealthy and will add to the nation's deficits and “cozying up to Russia.”
Weighing in on the recently published anonymous op-ed claiming there is a “resistance” within the White House keeping Trump in check, Obama offered a bleak assessment.
“They're not doing us a service by actively promoting 90% of the crazy stuff that's coming out of this White House, and then saying, 'Don't worry, we're preventing the other 10%,' ” he said.
“This is not normal,” he added. “These are extraordinary times and they are dangerous times.”
Obama, who was at the university to accept the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government, took a swipe at Trump's economic record.
"When you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started," he said.
Obama also criticized Trump for attacking the press, politicizing the Department of Justice and mishandling the fallout from a violent white supremacist rally.
"It should not be Democratic or Republican, it should not be a partisan issue, to say that we do not pressure the attorney general or the FBI to use the criminal justice system as a cudgel to punish our political opponents," he said.
His rare rebuke continued as he tore into the President for blaming “both sides” for violence last summer at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
"We are Americans. We're supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them," Obama said. "We're supposed to stand up to discrimination and we're sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers.
“How hard can that be? Saying that Nazis are bad.” he added.
Trump, in the midst of a fund-raising tour through North and South Dakota on Friday, said he watched Obama's address “but I fell asleep. I've found he's very good, very good for sleeping.”
Republicans shot back at the former President as well.
“In 2016, voters rejected President Obama's policies and his dismissiveness towards half the country. Doubling down on that strategy won't work in 2018 either," RNC spokesman Michael Ahrens said.
Obama is set to campaign in California and Ohio in coming weeks, backing Democratic candidates in competitive races. Former First Lady Michelle Obama is also scheduled to hold several rallies encouraging Democrats and young people to vote.
“This is one of those pivotal moments when every one of us as citizens of the United States need to determine just who it is that we are, just what it is that we stand for,” Obama said.
We are Americans. We’re supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them. BARACK OBAMA