Obama Eviscerates Trump as a Fake Working-Class Hero

“He spent most of his life trying to stay as far away from working people as he could.”


After a rocky start for Democrats this week, President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail on Tuesday, delivering an impassioned speech that denounced Donald Trump as a counterfeit candidate unrepresentative of working-class values. It was the president’s first solo appearance in support of Hillary Clinton, who is recovering from her recent bout with pneumonia.

“I keep on reading this analysis that Trump’s got support from working folks—really?” Obama said at a rally in Philadelphia. “This is the guy you want to be championing working people? This guy who spent 70 years on this Earth showing no concern for working people? This guy’s suddenly going to be your champion?”

“He spent most of his life trying to stay as far away from working people as he could.”

The president also expressed his frustrations with the media’s coverage of the GOP nominee, which he described as “frivolous.” The criticism comes the week after Matt Lauer’s widely panned forum on national security with both Clinton and Trump, after which the longtime NBC host was slammed for failing to challenge Trump’s false claim that he was against the Iraq War before it started.

“You don’t grade the presidency on a curve,” Obama said. “This is serious business, and when we see folks talking about transparency, you’ve got one candidate in this race who’s released decades worth of her tax returns. The other candidate is the first in decades who refuses to release any at all.”

The president also paused to take a little credit for the numbers in the newest Census report released earlier in the day that showed the household incomes in America have sharply risen.

“Thanks, Obama” he joked.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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