Former President Barack Obama said he is “deeply concerned” with some of the actions that President Donald Trump and his administration have taken and seemed to call out the Republican Party for not pushing back on them.
Obama rebuked Trump without explicitly naming him over the federal government’s threats against universities and students who exercise free speech, its targeting of law firms, and the new tariffs imposed on foreign countries.
“I don’t think what we just witnessed in terms of economic policy and tariffs is going to be good for America, but that’s a specific policy,” Obama said in his remarks at Hamilton College in New York. “I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” he said.
Obama said he’s more troubled by a White House that takes aim at law firms that represent ideas or parties that its occupants disagree with, and that the administration has punished media outlets. Trump has signed executive orders penalizing major law firms and lawyers, prompting outrage within the legal community. The White House has also barred The Associated Press from coverage over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
“That kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans,” he said.
Obama suggested that Republicans would be outraged if he had done similar things as president.
“Imagine if I had pulled Fox News’ credentials from the White House press corps,” he said, adding, “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.”
He added, “I say this not on a partisan basis. This has to do with something more precious, which is who are we as a country and what values do we stand for?”
His final message during his speech was that “history zigs and zags and there are times of conflict and there are times of stupidity and there are times of danger,” but he wants people to remain resilient.
“Don’t get discouraged,” he said. “I know it’s a little crazy right now, but we’re going to be OK.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke out against the Trump administration at the Leading Women Defined Summit in California on Thursday. She said that the country is witnessing “progress being rolled back” and a “sense of fear” taking hold nationwide.
“We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats,” she said. “And these are the things that we are witnessing each day in these last few months in our country. And it understandably creates a great sense of fear.”
Harris, who has kept a low profile since losing to Trump in November’s presidential election, said that “fear has a way of being contagious” but that “courage is also contagious.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about their remarks.
Michele Norris contributed.
