Getty Images
- Former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump on Wednesday over his decisions in office and accusing him of exhibiting “unpresidential behavior.”
- Obama delivered searing attacks against the president on Wednesday at a Philadelphia drive-in rally for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
- The former president mentioned the Trump administration’s disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic, noted The New York Times’ bombshell reports on Trump’s tax records, and tore into him for exhibiting “unpresidential behavior” throughout his presidency.
- “There are consequences to these actions,” Obama said. “They embolden other people to be cruel and divisive and racist, and it frays the fabric of our society and affects how our children see things, and it affects the ways that our families get along.”
- “It affects how the world looks at America,” he continued.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Former President Barack Obama tore into President Donald Trump Wednesday, criticizing the incumbent for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his behavior against his critics.
Obama delivered the searing remarks at a drive-in rally in Philadelphia for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president.
During the 40-minute speech, Obama criticized Trump’s response to COVID-19 outbreaks in the US, saying, “Tweeting at the television doesn’t fix things. Making stuff up doesn’t make things better. You’ve got to have a plan.”
“We literally left this White House a pandemic playbook,” he said. “They probably used it to prop up a wobbly table somewhere.”
“Donald Trump isn’t going to protect us. He can barely take the basic steps to protect himself,” Obama continued, referencing the president’s COVID-19 diagnosis earlier this month.
Obama boosted Biden’s focus on science to respond to the ongoing pandemic, telling the crowd that “Joe’s not going to screw up testing. He’s not going to call scientists ‘idiots.'”
“He’s not going to host a super spreader event at the White House,” Obama said, referencing the White House event announcing the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, after which a number of people in attendance tested positive for COVID-19.
The former president also mentioned The New York Times’ new report about Trump’s secret bank Chinese bank account while he was doing business there in 2013 and 2015, which resulted in his businesses paying $188,561 in taxes in China,” according to the report.
“He’s got a secret Chinese bank account. How is that possible?” Obama said during the rally. “Can you imagine if I had had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for re-election. You think Fox News might have been a little concerned about that.”
“They would have called me Beijing Barry,” he added jokingly, mocking the president’s tendency to tag adjectives to the names of his critics and opponents.
Obama then accused Trump of “unpresidential behavior,” saying the president “goes out of his way to insult anybody who doesn’t support or threaten them with jail. That’s not normal presidential behavior.”
“We wouldn’t tolerate it from a high school principal, we wouldn’t tolerate it from a coach, we wouldn’t tolerate it from a coworker, we wouldn’t tolerate it from our own family except for maybe a crazy uncle,” Obama said. “So why would we expect and accept this from the president of the United States?”
“There are consequences to these actions,” he continued. “They embolden other people to be cruel and divisive and racist, and it frays the fabric of our society and affects how our children see things, and it affects the ways that our families get along.”
He added: “It affects how the world looks at America.”
Watch Obama’s remarks here:
Powered by WPeMatico
