Barack Obama Takes Thinly-Veiled Dig At Donald Trump: ‘Unlike Some, I Actually Try To State Facts’
Barack Obama on Monday took a dig at Donald Trump – probably, anyway – at a Nevada rally on Monday, saying that “unlike some,” he actually tries to state facts.
As USA Today reports, the 44th president was in Nevada on Monday night campaigning for Democrat Jacky Rosen, who is locked in a tight Senate race with Republican Dean Heller. Donald Trump, similarly, was in Nevada recently to campaign for Heller.
During the rally, Obama, while not mentioning anyone by name, appeared to take a swipe at Donald Trump.
“Unlike some, I actually try to state facts — I believe in facts — I believe in a fact-based reality, a fact-based politics. I don’t believe in just making stuff up. I think you should say what’s true.”
Trump has been accused of having an adversarial relationship with the truth. At the previously-mentioned Nevada rally a few days ago, for example, Trump said that there have been riots in so-called “sanctuary cities” in California. There have not been any reported riots. Similarly, Trump has tried to say that the crowd at his inauguration was the “biggest in history,” a claim that his adviser Kellyanne Conway famously tried to explain away as “alternative facts.”
Barack Obama didn't mention Donald Trump by name. But he didn't have to. https://t.co/1qu036dAuC
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) October 23, 2018
He didn’t stop there. According to The Daily Mail, he also delivered – again, without naming names – a damning critique of Trump’s alleged attempts to put pressure on the Justice Department to target his political opponents, such as Hillary Clinton.
“That is not how America works. That is how some tin-pot dictatorship works.”
Obama also stressed the importance of voting in the midterms, telling attendees that their healthcare is in jeopardy if Democrats don’t take control of both houses of Congress. Further, he criticized Republicans for pretending to represent “the little guy” and then “undermine institutions essential to our democracy.” And he reminded would-be voters that their vote could be the only thing that stops the Trump administration from gaining even more power.
“There is only one real check on abuses of power, one real check on bad policy. It’s you and your vote.”
Democrats are hoping for a so-called “Blue Wave” in November, hoping that their party will retake both the House and the Senate, and in landslides, as well as pick up key governorships. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen, however. Some key races are, as of this writing, too close to call. But nationwide, Democrats hold a nine-point lead over Republicans in aggregate opinion polling.
