Barack Obama rips Donald Trump: 'It's wrong to spend all your time from a position of power vilifying people'

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by wonderingsocrates
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(CNN) Former President Barack Obama made a thinly veiled jab at President Donald Trump on Friday evening, saying it was wrong to use a position of power for attacking others as "enemies of the people and then suddenly pretending that you're concerned about civility."

"I would like to think that everybody in America would think it's wrong to spend all your time from a position of power vilifying people, questioning their patriotism, calling them enemies of the people and then suddenly pretending that you're concerned about civility," he told a cheering crowd.

Trump has repeatedly called the media "fake news" and "the enemy of the people." Following the discovery of multiple packages sent to people whom the President has spoken against as political enemies, as well as a suspicious package in CNN's New York bureau at the Time Warner Center on Wednesday, Trump tweeted Thursday that "a very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News."

Obama said Friday, "It shouldn't be Democratic or Republican to say you don't try to punish political opponents or threaten the freedom of the press just because you don't like what they say."

Obama was in Michigan campaigning for Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer. He urged attendees to consider political events of the recent past, including Republicans' attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and a voting record that contradicts recent claims that the GOP has always protected individuals with pre-existing conditions

Guardiancomplex on October 27th, 2018 at 15:07 UTC »

"Rips" "Shreds" "Destroys" "Slams" and "Dominates" should all be temporarily banned from political headlines.

ZadocPaet on October 27th, 2018 at 14:47 UTC »

No shit. This is where the GOP's comparison to the 2017 baseball shooting by Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson falls apart.

The difference is that Sanders didn't even mention the victims by name. He didn't use rhetoric to express anything other than he didn't agree with their policies.

Trump, his GOP fans, and his media allies, after whom he models himself, have repeatedly called all of the victims enemies of America.

How many times has Fox News talked about George Soros so they can create a Jewish boogeyman so that uneducated viewers can put a face on their hatred?

artgo on October 27th, 2018 at 14:24 UTC »

Obama rips Trump: 'It's wrong to spend all your time from a position of power vilifying people'

"If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams on October 24, 1780