Former U.S. President Barack Obama called out a double standard, suggesting that if he had done what President Donald Trump has in his first few months in office, the public outrage would be loud and swift.
“Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama said on Thursday during an on-stage interview at Hamilton College, according to CNN. “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”
Obama specifically condemned Trump for using his presidential bully pulpit to force private institutions to bend to his political will. “Imagine if I had said to law firms that were representing parties that were upset with policies my administration had initiated that you will not be allowed into government buildings,” said America’s first Black president. “We will punish you economically for dissenting from the [Obamacare] or the Iran Deal.”
He added, “The idea that a White House can say to law firms, if you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively…that kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans.”
President Obama said he is “more deeply concerned” with the Trump administration’s threats to American universities “if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech.”
Obama also said that he does not believe Trump’s new tariff announcement “is going to be good for America.” The former president said he was most concerned, however, with what he sees as the Trump White House infringing on Americans’ rights.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Trump has used the executive office with an iron fist to transform the federal government to his political will by eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion, and transgender rights, firing tens of thousands of federal employees and heads of independent agencies, and bypassing Congress to slash funding of federal agencies and programs.
Democrats and advocacy groups have condemned Trump’s actions, led by billionaire Elon Musk who oversees the administration’s DOGE agency, as unconstitutional.
President Obama was among many who warned American voters about what Trump would do if elected to a second term, much of which was outlined in the conservative manifesto, Project 2025.
“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” Obama said at last year’s Democratic National Convention.
“He wants you to think that you’ll be richer and safer if you will just give him the power,” he added. “It is one of the oldest tricks in politics from a guy whose act has, let’s face it, gotten pretty stale.”
