Obama has never mocked Trump so personally. That comes with a big risk
If you attack Trump on these terms, he comes back at you with a vengeance. And it will be more than simply referring to his predecessor as “Barack Hussein Obama.”
Scott Jennings is a conservative CNN political contributor and a leading contender to become the next White House press secretary. Moments after Obama left the Ohio stage, Jennings posted that Obama, “Makes speeches for 500k a pop. Hasn’t eaten dinner that costs less than $250 in years. Has never been in a cheesecake factory. Undefeated at condescending to regular folks. Will always be known for a presidency that ushered in the Trump era to begin with”.
Actually, a majority of voters did not go for Trump in 2016. Yes, the economy and the free trade agreements were not delivering enough good paying jobs and economic security for hard-working households. But the fact remains that Hillary Clinton received three million more votes than Trump – but lost the electoral college, including Ohio, which Obama had won by 200,000 votes four years earlier.
Still potent is the Trump team’s focus on the Democrat woke elites – whom he calls radical left socialists and communists – as being out of touch with so many Americans that the Democrats left behind. So Obama lifted his message. “There is a decency that we should expect of our public officials. The standards of behaviour have gotten so low,” and that the occupant of the highest office in the land must not “lie and cheat and bully”. “I’m tired of being angry. I’m tired of being divided.”
Obama concluded: “This election can be a course correction in America’s long journey toward a more perfect union.”
