President Obama pointed to “pretty troubling” rhetoric from Republican politicians and right-leaning media as a factor in President-elect Trump’s victory in the U.S. election.
“President Trump tapped into that particular strain” of the GOP, Obama said Tuesday in Athens, Greece.
Obama denied any direct parallels between the United Kingdom’s Brexit decision in June, during which the British people voted to reject their country’s continued participation in the European Union.
“No two countries are identical,” Obama said.
“Presidential elections always turn on personalities, they turn on how campaigns are run, they turn on natural desires for change,” Obama said of the difference between the results of the Brexit referendum and Trump’s victory, both of which surprised the political class.
“If you’ve had an incumbent who’s been there for eight years, there’s a temptation to think, ‘well, you know, let’s maybe make a change,'” he added.
Obama acknowledged that people across the U.S. and Europe have growing reservations about the rise of globalism, most often characterized by surges in immigration and the expansion of open trade deals.
“I do think that there is a common theme that we have seen in a lot of advanced economies and that we’ve seen around the world,” he said.
“Globalization, combined with technology, combined with social media and constant information, have disrupted people’s lives, sometimes in very concrete ways,” Obama said.
“People are less certain of their national identities,” he added. “There is no doubt that that has produced poplust movements, both on the left and the right, in many countries in Europe.”
Indeed, populist resistance has emerged as a product of globalization in the U.K. and across Europe, often emerging in movements that resemble the one that swept Trump into power last week.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party suffered significant losses in a September regional election, and French President Francois Hollande is facing a robust challenge from a nationalist party led by Marine Le Pen. Obama will meet with both leaders later this week in Germany.
Obama said he saw the same populist sentiments reflected in the U.S. election.
“When you see a Donald Trump and a Bernie Sanders, very unconventional candidates, have considerable success, then obviously there’s something there that’s being tapped into,” Obama said. “A suspicion of globalization. A desire to reign in its excesses.”
“It’s important to recognize, though, that those trends have always been there, and it’s the job, I think, of leaders to address people’s real and legitimate concerns … and channel them in the most constructive way possible,” he added.
Obama said he did not see Trump’s victory as a repudiation of his own legacy, and admitted on Tuesday that he was “surprised” by the results of the election.
“Did I recognize that there was anger and frustration in the American population? Of course I did,” he said.
“We have to deal with issues like inequality. We have to deal with issues of economic dislocation. We have to deal with people’s fears that their children won’t do as well as they have,” Obama continued.
The president said he saw a “mismatch” between his personal popularity and the country’s decision to elevate Trump over Hillary Clinton, for whom Obama campaigned vigorously.
“People seem to think I did a pretty good job,” Obama said.
“Time will now tell whether the prescriptions that are being offered, whether Brexit or with respect to the U.S. election, ends up satisfying the people who are frustrated or angry or concerned.”
