President Obama used a post-State of the Union speech in Nebraska to take a not-so-subtle jab at Donald Trump’s divisive brand of politics.
Referring to some politicians’ “doom-and-gloom” message that America is in decline, Obama labeled it “hot air,” “bluster” and “baloney.”
“So when you hear people peddling this fiction of our America getting weaker and our enemies getting stronger,” it’s just untrue, Obama argued. “…It’s just hot air. It’s bluster. It’s not serious.”
“There’s another word for it that starts with ‘b’ – it’s baloney,” he said to laughter.
The day after delivering his final State of the Union address, the president chose to travel to Nebraska, the state neighboring the Iowa caucus state where Trump is closing in on Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the GOP presidential primary.
Nebraska shares some of same media markets as Iowa, which is saturated with negative GOP presidential attack ads in the lead up to the Feb. 1 caucus there.
Just hours before the Nebraska speech, White House press secretary Josh Earnest denied that Obama crafted his State of the Union address in response to Trump’s rise in the polls and emergence as a GOP presidential front-runner.
But he didn’t deny that Obama’s efforts to rekindle a belief in America’s greatness appeared to directly contrast Trump’s message.
“It’s hard not to see the stark contrast in approach,” Earnest conceded. “I would readily acknowledge that. I think that was pretty obvious even to people who are only sort of paying attention to politics.”
Obama didn’t mention Trump in his Nebraska remarks, but he clearly denounced his tactics.
The president repeated his call for voters to reject any politics that targets people because of their race or religion.
“That we have no room for,” he said, noting that he understands that argument against being overly concerned about being “politically correct.”
First Amendment rights to have a difference of opinion in the country should be respected, he said.
“But that doesn’t mean you go around insulting people … that’s just being offensive and feeding our worst impulses,” he said. “And it doesn’t help us fight terrorists, by the way.”
