President Obama used the White House podium on Friday to dismiss Donald Trump as an unserious candidate to succeed him, and said leading the country isn’t a job that’s suited to reality show antics.
“I just want to emphasize the degree to which we are in serious times and this is a really serious job,” Obama said on Friday when asked about the race to succeed him. “This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States. And what that means is that every candidate, every nominee needs to be subject to exacting standards and genuine scrutiny.”
He called on the media to scrutinize Trump’s policy proposals, and Republican voters to reject flash over substance.
“Every candidate … if they say they have an answer, it has to be plausible,” and if not, and it won’t work, that needs to be reported on, Obama said.
If a candidate threatens war or breaking the financial system or walking away from the United States’ international partnerships, “that needs to be reported on,” he said.
Obama repeated his previous claims that the American people can be trusted to vote the right way, but added a caveat.
If voters are “effectively informed” about what is being proposed and candidates’ views, then Obama is “confident” that the country will be OK.
Obama said Trump’s decision to argue in public with House Speaker Paul Ryan about who’s in control of the Republican party means the GOP needs to decide “what the implications for their party” are.
“Their standard bearer at the moment is Donald Trump,” Obama said. “Republican voters are going to have to make a decision about whether this is the guy who speaks to them and represents their value.”
“I’ll leave it up to Republicans to figure out how they square their circles,” he said about the rifts within the GOP.
When reporters asked him about less weighty campaign matters, Obama wouldn’t engage.
“I have no thoughts on Mr. Trump’s tweets,” Obama answered when asked about Trump’s tweet in which he extolled the virtues of one of his property’s taco bowls as he dug in on Cinco de Mayo, the day Mexicans celebrate driving out a French dictator, and stated that he “loves Hispanics.”
“As a general rule, I don’t pay attention to Mr. Trump’s tweets,” Obama told reporters. “You can just file that one,” he said, insinuating that will become a stock answer of his about Trump.
