Barack Obama laughs at Donald Trump likening himself to Lincoln, says his words can be 'destructive and harmful'
Former President Barack Obama has slammed POTUS Donald Trump comparing himself to the first Republican President Abraham Lincoln time and again. The 44th president of the US also called Trump “destructive and harmful” during an interview with Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning.
When Obama was asked during the interview by King, “Donald Trump often raises eyebrows when he says he’s done more for Black America and people of color than Abraham Lincoln.” Obama replied, laughing “Yes, yes it does raise eyebrows, you are correct.” King asked, "What do you think when you hear that? Do you take that as an insult to you or the work that you’ve done?”
Obama admitted that it was difficult to take many things Trump said, “personally or seriously”. He said: “I think it’s fair to say that there are many things he says that I do not take personally or seriously, although I think they can often be destructive and harmful.” The ex-POTUS also admitted he had been disappointed that more Republicans had not spoken out publicly against Trump after he consistently refused to concede defeat in the presidential race even after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the projected winner.
He said: "It's been sort of par-for-the-course during these four years. They obviously didn’t think there was any fraud going on cause they didn’t say anything about it for the first two days. But there's damage to this because what happens is that the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether it's dogcatcher or president, are servants of the people."
Obama added: "It's a temporary job. We're not above the rules, we're not above the law, that's the essence of our democracy. I think we were in a circumstance in this election in which certain norms, certain institutional values, that are so extraordinarily important, had been breached. That it was important for me, as somebody who had served in that office, to simply let people know 'This is not normal.'"
On the same day, Obama also sat down for an interview with CBS' Scott Pelley on '60 Minutes' to promote his new book 'A Promised Land' which throws light on the former president’s foray into politics, his 2008 election win, and ends with the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden in 2011. When asked during the interview what his advice will be to Trump at this moment, Obama said, “They are temporary occupants of the office, by design. And when your time is up then it is your job to put the country first and think beyond your own ego, and your own interests, and your own disappointments.” He added, “My advice to President Trump is, if you want at this late stage in the game to be remembered as somebody who put country first, it's time for you to do the same thing.”
Obama was also asked about the massive number of votes that both presidential candidates received, he said, “It tells us that we're very divided. ... it's not just the politicians now. The voters are divided.” He continued, “It has now become a contest where issues, facts, policies per se don't matter as much as identity and wanting to beat the other guy ... that's taken priority. I do think the current media environment adds to that greatly. This democracy doesn't work if we don't have an informed citizenry.” He also said, “[It] doesn't work if we don't have responsible elected officials… who are willing to call the president when he's not doing something right, call him on it.”
