Obama: ‘Leaders Who Feed Fear Typically Are Also Ones Who Avoid Facts’

In a not-so-subtle jab at President Trump, former president Barack Obama told an audience gathered at the The National Museum of African American History and Culture to celebrate the centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth on Saturday why those in power might spread lies:

“Leaders who feed fear typically are also ones who avoid facts,” Obama said.

Barack Obama: "Leaders who feed fear typically are also ones who avoid facts."

Via The Hill pic.twitter.com/bCCvcg0v5Q — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 28, 2019

Obama continued his thoughts with a familiar message of hope conquering fear: “There is always a struggle between hope and fear, between the world as it is and how we’d like it to be… The good news is that fear is typically the province of the old. And hope is the province of the young.”

Barack Obama: "There is always a struggle between hope and fear, between the world as it is and how we'd like it to be… The good news is that fear is typically the province of the old. And hope is the province of the young."

Via The Hill pic.twitter.com/Ivokw9BWlT — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 28, 2019

The former president also commented on the death of former Indiana senator Richard Lugar in a written statement on Sunday, saying, “America is safer because of Dick; the world is, too. His passing is a reminder of the constant and pressing need to expand international nonproliferation agreements. And it’s a call to remember what a public servant can be.”