President Barack Obama said today that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is “unfit to serve as president”.
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Obama delivered his broadside against Trump while fielding a question at the top of a White House press conference with the visiting prime minister of Singapore. “I said so last week, and he keeps on proving it”. Nearly on cue, U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna, a three-term Republican who is not seeking re-election this year, announced he will vote for Hillary Clinton for president because he too believes Trump is “unfit to serve and party and can not lead this country”. Others, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Ryan, have broken with the nominee on individual issues but continued to back his candidacy. “What does this say about your party that this is your standard bearer?”
While Obama has always been critical of Trump, his blistering condemnation Tuesday was a notable escalation of his involvement in the presidential race.
Obama, who has endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton as his successor when he leaves office in January, challenged Republicans to repudiate Trump, saying his complaints against Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala after they endorsed Clinton at last week’s Democratic National Convention were offensive.
Donald Trump Tuesday responded to President Barack Obama’s attacks by describing him as “a failed leader who along with Secretary of State Clinton created a foreign policy that has destabilized the world and made it an unsafe place”. “I found him profoundly offensive and narcissistic but as much as anything, a world-class panderer, anything but a leader”, Hanna wrote.
“If in fact Russian Federation engaged in this activity, it’s just one on a long list of issues that me and Mr. Putin talk about”, Obama said.
“If at the end waiting at the altar the bride doesn’t arrive, I think there are people who are going to be very hurt – not just emotionally but really damaged”.
She and Obama have been making appeals to Republican voters disillusioned by Trump, partly by portraying him as outside the party’s mainstream. Though he didn’t speak Trump’s name, the president didn’t mince words in his answer.
As such he was highly critical of the Republican leadership who are supporting the billionaire from NY.
At last week’s Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan, a Muslim whose son was killed serving in the USA military in Iraq, criticized Mr Trump’s plan to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the US. He said that while he disagreed with his Republican opponents in the 2008 and 2012 elections, he never thought they were unfit to do the job.
The interview followed a campaign rally where Trump accepted a Purple Heart from a veteran who had sustained combat injuries.
Noting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was still investigating the hack, Obama said cybersecurity was just another dispute of many between Putin and himself. Trump’s campaign promptly issued a news release blasting the president’s legacy on the Middle East, the Iranian nuclear deal, illegal immigrants committing crimes, the meagre economic recovery since 2009 and the outsourcing of jobs. The Pakistan-born Khan told the story of his son, USA army Capt Humayun Khan, who was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart after his death in 2004.
Despite public backlash following his remarks, Trump refused to back down and insisted he was “viciously attacked” by the Khans.
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Singapore, a close USA partner, is one of the 12 nations in the TPP, an agreement key to Obama’s effort to boost US exports and build strategic ties in Asia.
