Former President Barack Obama delivered a biting speech against President Trump during a drive-in campaign event for his former VP Joe Biden in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Obama began his remarks with a dig at Trump by referencing the President’ remarks during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania the day before when he admitted to rallygoers that his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that’s caused his approval ratings to tank in the state — which he desperately needs to win on Election Day — forced him to stop by.
“I know the President spent some time in Erie last night and apparently he complained about having to travel here, then he cut the event short. Poor guy,” Obama said. “I don’t feel that way. I love coming to Pennsylvania. You guys delivered for me twice, and I am back here tonight to ask you to deliver the White House for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
Obama went on to rip Trump for “treating his presidency like a reality show.”
“He hasn’t shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends or treating the presidency like a reality show he can use to get attention,” Obama said. “And by the way, even then his TV ratings are down. So you know that upsets him.”
Obama pointed out that “this is not a reality show” and that “the rest of us have had to live with the consequences of him proving himself incapable of taking the job seriously” now that more than 220,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.
The former President also took swipes at Trump on various issues, which included the New York Times’ report on Trump holding a secret Chinese bank account. Obama sarcastically quipped that if he had a secret Chinese bank account while running for re-election in 2012, Fox News “would’ve called me ‘Beijing Barry.'”
Obama carved out time in his speech to praise his former VP as he recalled how he came to know and love Biden, saying that he didn’t know him that well when he chose him as his VP, despite having served in the Senate together.
“We weren’t super close. He and I came from different places. We came from different generations. But I came to admire Joe as a man who has learned early on to treat everybody he meets with dignity and respect, living by the words his parents taught him,” Obama said. “No one’s better than you, Joe, but you’re better than nobody. And that empathy, that decency, that belief that everybody counts, that’s who Joe is. That’s who he’ll be.”
Obama added that “the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are” before saying that Biden “has shown himself to be a friend of working people.”
Obama went on to tear into Trump further by criticizing the President’s denigrating remarks toward fallen soldiers by calling them “losers,” ripping him for failing to “take the basic steps to protect himself” against COVID-19, lacking a “great plan to replace Obamacare” and his penchant for retweeting conspiracy theories.
Obama remarked that if Biden wins the election, the public wouldn’t have to worry about him spreading conspiracy theories unlike Trump.
“You’ll be able to go about your lives knowing that the President is not going to retweet conspiracy theories about secret cabals running the world or that navy SEALS didn’t actually kill Bin Laden,” Obama said. “Think about that — the President of the United Statess retweeted that. Imagine, what — what? We’re not going to have a President that goes out of his way to insult anybody who doesn’t support him or threaten them with jail.”
Obama rounded out his speech by urging the public against being “complacent.”
“We can’t be complacent. I don’t care about the polls. There were a whole bunch of polls last time — didn’t work out,” Obama said. “Because a whole bunch of folks stayed at home and got lazy and complacent. Not this time. Not this election.”
Obama ended his speech by telling the public that “America is a good and decent place.”
“But we’ve just seen so much noise and nonsense that sometimes it’s hard for us to remember,” Obama said. “Philadelphia, I’m asking you to remember what this country can be.”
Watch Obama’s remarks below:
