By Michael Finnegan
Los Angeles Times
In a scathing indictment of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, former President Barack Obama called for the restoration of honesty, decency and lawfulness to the U.S. government, framing the November midterm election as a historic chance for Americans to reject what he cast as the dark political vision of his successor.
“If you think that votes don’t matter, I hope these last two years have corrected that impression,” Obama told students Friday at the University of Illinois in a speech aimed at inspiring a strong turnout for Democrats.
In a rare breach of the protocol that keeps former presidents on the margins of political combat, Obama attacked Trump by name. He described Trump and his GOP allies as defenders of the powerful and the privileged, stoking public anger and divisiveness as a means to protect themselves.
“It did not start with Donald Trump,” Obama said. “He is a symptom. Not the cause.”
Obama, who has largely shied from public attacks on Trump since he left office, said demagogues sometimes promise simple solutions to complex problems, vowing to fight for the little guy while protecting the rich and to clean up corruption while plundering away.
“Sound familiar?” he asked.
Obama cited Trump’s equivocation in responding to violence that erupted last year in Charlottesville, Va., when neo-Nazi white supremacists clashed with counter-protesters.
“How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?” Obama asked.
Obama also castigated Trump for trying to curb the constitutional protection of the press.
“I complained plenty about Fox News,” he said. “But you never heard me threaten to shut them down or call them enemies of the people.”
He also faulted Trump for “undermining our alliances” and “cozying up to the former head of the KGB,” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As for the Republicans who control both houses of Congress, Obama accused them of giving tax cuts to rich Americans who don’t need them, voting to take away health care from millions, rejecting science on climate change and making it harder for young people and minorities to vote.
“It’s not conservative,” he said, “It sure isn’t normal. It’s radical.”
