UPDATED: Former president Barack Obama, saying Trump is capitalizing on 'fear and anger,'...

Source: The Washington Post


Former president Barack Obama, saying President Trump is capitalizing on ‘fear and anger,’ calls on Americans to vote in November

By Michael Scherer

September 7 at 11:57 AM

Former President Obama on Friday delivered a blistering criticism of the political tactics of his successor President Trump, saying he had built on the fears of the powerful as they look to diminishing importance in a rapidly changing nation.

“It did not start with Donald Trump,” Obama said during a noon speech at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “He is a symptom not the cause. He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years, the fear and anger that’s rooted in our past.”

Obama also defended his own administration from near-constant criticism by Trump, noting its capture and killing of Osama bin Laden and its handling of the economic collapse of 2008.

“Let’s just remember when this economy started” improving, he said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-president-obama-to-warn-of-voter-apathy-ahead-of-the-november-elections/2018/09/07/fad28508-b28f-11e8-9a6a-565d92a3585d_story.html

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UPDATE:

Obama takes rare step of invoking Trump's name as he warns of 'pivotal' moment

By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE 09/07/2018 12:23 PM EDT Updated 09/07/2018 12:35 PM EDT

Barack Obama took the rare step of invoking President Donald Trump's name on Friday as he warned that his successor has fueled racial tensions and fear-mongering, bringing the nation to a "pivotal" moment.

"It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause," Obama said as he launched his midterm campaigning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, "He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years."

Obama also argued that Trump poses such a threat to America that it forced him to speak out in an unprecedented way for a former president.

"I’m here today because this is one of those pivotal moments when every one of us as citizens of the United States need to determine just who we are, what it is that we stand for," Obama said. "As a fellow citizen, not as an ex-president, I’m here to deliver a simple message, which is that you need to vote, because our democracy depends on it."

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/07/obama-says-trump-has-pushed-america-to-a-pivotal-moment-810650