President Obama’s attacks on Donald Trump’s “vulgar” political campaign are only helping to solidify Trump’s support, according to the billionaire’s critics and supporters.
Ahead of Trump’s knockout blow to Marco Rubio in Florida Tuesday night, the president used an otherwise lighthearted St. Patrick’s Day luncheon on Capitol Hill Tuesday to issue a dire anti-Trump warning.
Obama argued that Trump’s “vulgar and divisive” rhetoric and violence on the campaign trail could lower America’s standing in the world, and he called on lawmakers in both parties to somehow make it stop. It was at least the fifth time over the last week that the president or one of his top spokesmen has publicly called out Trump for his incendiary rhetoric and blamed the Republican Party for his rise.
Trump is a “distillation of what has been going on in their party for more than a decade,” Obama charged during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday.
Those comments about Trump echoed similar remarks Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders made in the televised Democratic town hall Sunday night. Both Clinton and Sanders accused Trump of inciting violence at his rallies, and Clinton accused him of being a “bigot.”
Republicans on both sides of the Trump chasm in the GOP, however, don’t believe the top Democrats’ comments will weaken Trump at all.
“When Democrats go after Trump like this, it only adds fuel to the fire under the Trump campaign,” said Ron Bonjean, a veteran GOP communications strategist. “Voters who support Trump think that Democrats are afraid of their candidate and will do anything to stop him. It’s another case of the establishment against the outside looking to take a wrecking ball to Washington.”
Trump’s handful of announced supporters on Capitol Hill argue that Obama’s comments, in particular, will only serve to further galvanize to Trump fans.
“I would say with the president making those kind of comments, it just further energizes Trump supporters,” Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., an early Trump supporter, told the Washington Examiner.
The use of the president’s bully pulpit to bash Trump also could convince some undecided voters to back him, Collins argued.
“The most divisive president to ever dis-serve this nation is Barack Obama, so the hypocrisy and disingenuous nature of the of him saying that is somewhat amazing in and of itself,” he said.
When it comes to accusations that Trump is inciting violence during his rallies, Collins laid the blame squarely on left-leaning groups like MoveOn.org and Bernie Sanders supporters who helped organize protests in Chicago that grew violent and led Trump to cancel his rally there Friday night.
“There’s no question that the Democratic playbook is feeding on division we’re seeing in these primaries — to try to saddle Trump with so much baggage going into the general,” Collins said. He argued that the protests are orchestrated by leftist groups instead of bubbling up on their own.
Obama supporters argue that protests and top Democrats’ condemnation of Trump are simply aimed at trying to prevent people from growing even more disgusted with the political process.
“[Obama] has serious concerns about the divisiveness in the country — even when I talk to some of my Republican colleagues privately they have the same kind of concerns,” Rep. Greg Meeks, D-N.Y., said in an interview. “[I feel] the president feels it’s his responsibility to say that we should not be divisive and we should not tolerate the kind of divisiveness that Mr. Trump seems to be espousing.”
But even Republican supporters of John Kasich, who is continuing his presidential campaign after besting Trump in his home state of Ohio Tuesday night, say Obama’s condemnation of Trump is only further motivating his backers.
“Trump is kind of the anti-Barack Obama,” Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, told the Examiner. “I’ve heard people say that I’m voting for Trump because I’m tired of political correctness so actually I think Obama’s helping Trump rather than hurting him.”
Tiberi also suggested Obama is beating the drums against Trump by design — in order to boost him during the primary, after which he will work to weaken him as a nominee and the GOP as a whole for the general election.
“The president is a pretty smart guy and I hate to be a conspiracy theorist … but it makes you wonder,” he said.
