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It is a question that often arises when Democrats seek leadership. Someone will ask, Where is Barack Obama?
Former President Obama is retired from active politics, which means that, regardless of how chaotic things become, he mostly stays quiet. Obama respects the traditional sideline role of ex-presidents.
It takes something extreme to get Obama to engage in current politics at any level beyond campaigning for Democratic candidates, but when Trump accused the former president of masterminding a coup against him and called for the ex-president to be criminally charged, that was enough to get a statement issued by former President Obama’s office.
Obama said through his office, “Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”
The one word that many think defines Trump in all aspects is weak.
The calls to arrest Obama are a clear distraction that was targeted at Trump’s base. Racism toward Obama was what launched Trump’s political star in the Republican Party almost a decade and a half ago.
It has been argued by some academics that Trump’s 2016 victory was a direct response by a segment of the American population to the election of a black president.
The distraction effort involving Obama came after Trump tried to distract with slurs against Native Americans.
Trump seems to know that a core part of his base supports him, not because of policies, but due to deep, ugly cultural fault lines and divisions on issues like race and gender.
Donald Trump’s choice of distraction reveals who he thinks the MAGA movement is.
Trump should have known better than to mess with Barack Obama.
The former president knows how to not fuel the fire Trump is attempting to create, while at the same time understanding how to brush Trump off and minimize him in the most ego-damaging way possible.
Donald Trump has always had an inferiority complex when it comes to Obama, and the popular ex-president’s brush-off was a blow square to Trump’s fragile ego.
What do you think about Obama’s response to Trump? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
