obama's barrage of insults will be hanging over his meeting with trump on thursday. by madeline conway 11/10/16 11:42 am est president barack obama has promised to pave the way forward for a peaceful transition from his administration to the presidency of donald trump. it is no secret that obama wishes he were instead meeting with hillary clinton on thursday. but as obama sits down with trump, he is preparing to pass the baton to not only the member of an opposing party he has criticized, but someone he has described as a threat to democracy. story continued below while stumping for clinton on the campaign trail, obama regularly dismissed trump as <u+201c>uniquely unqualified<u+201d> for the presidency. but while the sitting president started out dissing the republican for his twitter habits (<u+201c>sasha tweets, but she doesn't think that she, thereby, should be sitting behind the desk,<u+201d> obama said, referencing his younger daughter), he grew more serious as the race wore on. obama accused trump of helping terrorists. he said his rhetoric was undermining american democracy. he described trump's outreach to working-class voters as a lie. here are nine of the many inflammatory things obama said about trump. 1. obama said trump<u+2019>s rhetoric was <u+2018>ultimately helping do isil<u+2019>s work<u+2019> in july, obama rebuked trump<u+2019>s rhetoric on terrorism and muslims, declaring that it was <u+201c>ultimately helping do isil<u+2019>s work,<u+201d> and also offered a dig at former house speaker newt gingrich, a trump ally now reportedly under consideration for secretary of state. <u+201c>if we start engaging in the kinds of proposals that we've heard from mr. trump or some of his surrogates like mr. [newt] gingrich, where we start suggesting that we would apply religious tests to who could come in here, that we are screening muslim americans differently than we would others, then we are betraying that very thing that makes america exceptional,<u+201d> obama said. 2. he charged that trump <u+2018>appears to only care about himself<u+2019> in late september, obama told the syndicated radio host steve harvey that trump<u+2019>s first debate performance showed that he <u+201c>appears to only care about himself<u+201d> and said he <u+201c>doesn<u+2019>t do his homework, doesn<u+2019>t know basic facts that you<u+2019>d need to know.<u+201d> and as he often did on the campaign trail, obama suggested that trump's comments about women and others disqualified him from presidency: <u+201c>you had somebody who basically insulted women and then doubled down. in terms of how he talks about them and talks about their weight and talks about how they look instead of the content of their character and their capabilities, which is not something that i want, not somebody i want in the oval office.<u+201d> by madeline conway 3. <u+2018>he is insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down<u+2019> obama offered a harsh condemnation of trump in early october, after the <u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> tape surfaced with trump bragging about sexual assault. calling trump<u+2019>s remarks <u+201c>unbelievable,<u+201d> obama reiterated his stance that he should not be allowed near the oval office. <u+201c>demeaning women, degrading women, but also minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths, mocking the disabled, insulting our troops, insulting our veterans,<u+201d> obama said . <u+201c>that tells you a couple things. it tells you he is insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down." <u+201c>not a character trait that i would advise for somebody in the oval office,<u+201d> he added. 4. <u+2018>the guy spent 70 years on this earth showing no regard for working people<u+2019> on the campaign trail, obama repeatedly sought to portray trump as an out-of-touch billionaire whose stated support for the common man <u+2014> the white working class that would later carry him to victory <u+2014> was nothing short of a lie. he coined what would become something of a campaign trail catch phrase in response: <u+201c>come on, man.<u+201d> <u+201c>the guy spent 70 years on this earth showing no regard for working people,<u+201d> obama said in one blistering speech in october. <u+201c>and then suddenly, he<u+2019>s going to be the champion of working people? come on. come on, man.<u+201d> 5. he called trump<u+2019>s vision for america <u+2018>dark and pessimistic<u+2019> in that same speech, obama told supporters that they needed to <u+201c>reject a dark and pessimistic vision<u+201d> and vote against trump. and <u+201c>you just have to be a decent human being,<u+201d> he said, to reject what trump had said about women. 6. obama chastised trump to <u+2018>stop whining<u+2019> about his place in the polls later in october, obama jumped on trump<u+2019>s suggestions that the election might be rigged against him to further make his case that trump was not fit to lead. <u+201c>i<u+2019>d advise mr. trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes,<u+201d> obama said. <u+201c>it doesn't really show the kind of leadership and toughness that you'd want out of a president.<u+201d> <u+201c>if you start whining before the game is even over, if whenever things are going badly for you, and you lose you start blaming somebody else, then you don<u+2019>t have what it takes to be in this job,<u+201d> he said. 7. he also called trump<u+2019>s talk of election rigging a <u+2018>dangerous<u+2019> lie undermining democracy by nolan d. mccaskill campaigning on behalf of clinton in miami shortly after, obama described the impact of trump<u+2019>s allegations that the election might be rigged in more dire terms. he described the talk as <u+201c>dangerous<u+201d> and accused trump of trying <u+201c>to sow the seeds of doubt in people<u+2019>s minds about the legitimacy of our elections.<u+201d> <u+201c>this is more than just the usual standard lie,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>because when you suggest rigging or fraud without a shred of evidence, when last night, at the debate, trump becomes the first major party nominee in american history to suggest that he will not concede, despite losing the vote and then says today that he will accept the results if he wins <u+2014> that is not a joking matter.<u+201d> <u+201c>i want everybody to pay attention here. that is dangerous,<u+201d> obama continued. <u+201c>because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people's minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. then you<u+2019>re doing the work of our adversaries for them. because our democracy depends on people knowing that their vote matters, that those who occupy the seats of power were chosen by the people.<u+201d> 8. obama said trump had <u+2018>not even a hint<u+2019> of a health care plan in the campaign<u+2019>s final stretch, obama also attacked trump on policy, knocking trump<u+2019>s promise to <u+201c>repeal and replace<u+201d> his own signature health care law with disdain. <u+201c>you watch the press conference and what you realize is they got no plan,<u+201d> obama said in november . <u+201c>they want to repeal because ideologically they're opposed to the idea of helping these 20 million people get health insurance. it's not like, they don't even have a pretense of a plan. they don't even have a semblance of a plan. there's not even a hint of a plan. not even a moat. not even a <u+2014> there's no plan. nothing, zero, nada.<u+201d> obama<u+2019>s voice rose as he continued: <u+201c>come on. you can't just be against something. you've got to be for something.<u+201d> now, as trump prepares to enter the white house with republican majorities in both chambers of congress, the future of obamacare, one of the president<u+2019>s biggest legislative accomplishments, is on the line. 9. 'if somebody can't handle a twitter account, they can't handle the nuclear codes' in one of the most difficult statements to walk back <u+2014> not that he would necessarily want to <u+2014> obama repeatedly argued that trump should not have control over the country's nuclear arsenal, joining the clinton campaign in suggesting that the republican is too erratic to handle them. to make this point, obama again pointed to twitter, seizing on a report that trump's campaign aides had limited his access to the social media platform: "if somebody can't handle a twitter account, they can't handle the nuclear codes," obama said confidently. by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
9 of the nastiest things obama said about trump - politico
madeline conway madeline conway nolan d. mccaskill jack shafer