December 21, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC: President Obama says Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is “exploiting” the fears of working-class Americans amid a stagnant and rapidly changing economy.
December 21, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC: President Obama says Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is “exploiting” the fears of working-class Americans amid a stagnant and rapidly changing economy.
He said the billionaire has stoked the flames of resentment among blue-collar workers who have been crowded out of the economy by technological innovation and the financial crisis.
“You combine those things and it means that there is going to be potential anger, frustration, fear,” Obama said in an interview with NPR that will air beginning Monday. “Some of it justified, but just misdirected.”
“I think somebody like Mr. Trump is taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s exploiting during the course of his campaign,” he added.
Asked about the Paris climate agreement struck earlier this month, the president also said Republicans are “perhaps literally the only major party in the developed world that is still engaging in climate denial.”
“Even far-right parties in other places acknowledge that the science shows that temperatures are going up and that that is a really dangerous thing we’ve got to do something about,” he said.
On the recent college protests about race, meanwhile, Obama said students are free to disagree with speakers invited to campus, but should not try to “shut them up.”
“If somebody doesn’t believe in affirmative action, they may disagree – you may disagree with them, I disagree with them, but have an argument with them,” he said.
“It is possible for somebody not to be racist and want a just society but believe that that is something that is inconsistent with the Constitution – and you should engage,” he added.
“What I don’t want is a situation in which particular points of view that are presented respectfully and reasonably are shut down, and we have seen that sometimes happen.”
Courtesy: The Hill
