President Obama mocked Donald Trump’s fight against the “global elite” on Friday, and said Trump himself has tried to cast himself as a member of that crowd for decades.
“Trump has spent his entire life trying convincing people that he is one of the global elites,” Obama said at a rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland. “Now he wants Americans to believe he’s going to fight for the average Joe?”
“This is a guy who spent all his time hanging around, trying to convince everybody he was a global elite,” he said. “Talking about how great his buildings are, how luxurious and how rich he is and flying around everywhere. All he had time for was celebrities.”
“And now, suddenly, he’s acting like he’s a populist out there. ‘Man, I’m gonna fight for working people,'” Obama said. “Come on, man. You wanna know what somebody’s gonna do? Look what they’ve been doing their whole lives.”
Obama said Trump’s bragging about not paying taxes also disqualifies him from sitting in the Oval Office.
“It’s not smart,” Obama said. It just means he’s not giving back to veterans and the troops and to schools and roads.” “That’s part of citizenship,” Obama said. “Not trying to weasel out of your responsibilities. And then you want to lead the country? What, you gonna teach everyone how to weasel out of paying their taxes?”
He also said Trump’s threat to throw Hillary Clinton in jail and toss out reporters from his press events shows he’s not ready to lead a democratic system of government.
“In a democracy, you can’t just threaten to jail your opponents,” Obama said, repeating the GOP nominee’s threat in the last debate to send the former secretary of state to prison. “You don’t just kick out reporters you don’t like,” Obama said.
Obama praised Clinton as the only qualified candidate in the race, and said she worked harder than anyone.
“She doesn’t talk about how everything is rigged,” Obama said. “She doesn’t quit and she doesn’t make excuses. And by the way, isn’t that what you want from a president? Her opponent, he seems to be, in the middle of the game, making excuses all the time for why he may be losing.”
