Topline
Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump’s “obsession” with him in a podcast episode released Wednesday, a rare rebuke amid broader criticism of the Trump administration ahead of midterm elections later this year.
“I obviously have a room in his head,” the former president said.
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Key Facts
Obama, in an episode of the “All the Smoke” podcast released Wednesday, called Trump’s focus on him and his family an “obsession” and a “strange thing,” adding, “I obviously have a room in his head.”
Obama said “the last thing” he had time for as president “was worry about what somebody said, or what my predecessor did,” adding, “They’re gone, I’ve got work to do.”
The former president went on to say that Trump’s persistent criticism of him “shows me somebody who’s not focused on the American people and the job they’re supposed to do.”
crucial quote
“The idea that I’d be worrying about somebody who came before and me trying to measure like, ‘What’s he done today?’ [and] constantly worrying about that is a strange thing to me,” Obama said.
what else have the obamas said about trump?
At the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago earlier this month, former First Lady Michelle Obama drew cheers after alluding to her husband “winning a peace prize,” in an apparent jab at Trump. Trump, who repeatedly suggested he deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize last year, was gifted the medal by the winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. The former president also spoke and appeared to offer more criticisms without naming Trump, noting there would be “no kings or lords” ruling the U.S. while referring to “shared values that make democracy possible,” including “a belief in the peaceful transfer of power after the people have spoken in fair and free elections.” In an interview with NBC ahead of the center’s opening, Barack Obama suggested the U.S. may be “worse off” now than before Trump launched a war on Iran in February, saying, “We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, put enormous strain on our military,” and “a lot of people have died.”
key background
Trump has attacked Barack Obama several times in recent months, including in an AI-generated Truth Social post depicting the Obama Presidential Center as a trash can. In May, Trump labeled Barack Obama a “traitor” and called for him to be arrested while accusing the former president of plotting a coup. Republican leaders denounced Trump in February after the president posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social that featured Barack Obama and Michelle Obama portrayed as gorillas, which he later deleted. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., called it “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”