IT’S PERSONAL: OBAMA SAYS GOP HOSTILITY LED TO RISE OF TRUMP

American reporters trying to draw Justin Trudeau into commenting on the U. S. election, instead heard their president riff on the rise of Donald Trump, pictured. Barack Obama said the Republican establishment had created “an environment where somebody like a Donald Trump can thrive.” GOP leaders have done that, he said, by telling the party for seven years that “everything I do is to be opposed” and “that maximalist, absolutist positions on issues are politically advantageous.”