this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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Summary

Barack Obama sharply criticized Donald Trump’s presidency during a speech at Hamilton College, condemning attacks on the press, immigration crackdowns, and threats to civil liberties.

He called it “unimaginable” that Trump’s actions—such as barring the AP and threatening law firms—would have been tolerated under past presidents.

Obama warned that Trump’s behavior, though “goofy,” poses real danger, and he labeled Trump a “wannabe dictator.”

He also referenced former Trump aide John Kelly's “fascist” remark and urged Americans not to mistake chaos for leadership.

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

“Imagine if I had done any of this,”

Ha... I'm not a big fan of obomber but at least he's legit funny sometimes.

#Michelle2028

https://thepoliticalinsider.com/michelle-obama-beat-trump-poll/

[–] Demdaru@lemmy.world 35 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

If you thought the country needed you and you thought you could really help our nation, is there even a one percent chance you’d consider running?

“Just between us, and the readers of this magazine — there’s zero chance,” Mrs. Obama replied.

Yeah, can't say I am surprised. I mean, she saw what that did to her husband. Not sure how it looks from USA pov, but from outside, the man visually aged two decades during his cadency.

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 24 points 14 hours ago

What they did to her too, racist ass anti-trans bullshit.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 31 points 17 hours ago

Obama allowed the Republicans to viciously kick him around for eight years, yet he never stopped trying to appease them. He should have ruthlessly prosecuted the crimes of the illegitimate Bush administration, and showed the proto-Nazi Republican party that treason would not be tolerated. If he had, there never would have been the environment for MAGA to rise. But he failed us, like all those corporate, Republican-Lite Demopublicans.

Now he's still playing the same old game, like most of them, pretending that its business as usual, and letting HitlerPig get away with being Putin's muscle, as he actively, gleefully destroys America, right in front of our faces, ss he plays golf. Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

How long do we have to tolerate obvious TREASON before we stop it? Do we have to wait until the entire Democratic free world has collapsed, billions of people have died, and Sociopathic Oligarchs are sitting on top of the pile, smoking cigars and drinking expensive scotch, and gloating about their success, before we can finally admit what we already know right now, BEFORE the carnage - that the destruction of Democracy was their plan all along?

It's time for some coalition of respected leaders, including military, to step up and end this madness decisively. There are a lot of potential tipping points (a war against NATO allies, leaving NATO, an alliance with Russia/ China/ N Korea, attacking Canada/Mexico, giving away Alaska and/or Taiwan, a draft, disappearing American citizens without due process, designating citizens as terrorists for exercising free speech, etc), but the one bright red line that can NEVER be crossed, is elections. If HitlerPig suspends elections for ANY reason at all, it will become time to literally execute the entire MAGA leadership. That is precisely why the Founding Fathers created the 2nd Amendment, and we should honor them by applying it as they intended.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 36 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I had no problem imagining it for at least a year before Election Day.

Nobody fucking listened.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

FR it's like nobody remembered anything that happened between 2016 and 2020, or that they thought an actual dictatorship wouldn't be so bad.

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 22 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Just call him for what he is, A russia agent, Krasnov Trump.

And stop calling them Presidents, they are public servant. re-label the term to "Head Public Servant".
So that everyone is reminded everyday who they are supposed to serve.

[–] WuceBrillis@lemm.ee 11 points 21 hours ago

https://archive.ph/QbtHO

This is the archived version of the article, no paywall.

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago

Tariffs are basically tax on Americans.

[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Barrack gave us trump when he let home owners eat shit and the bankers walk free. Even Bush was going to give home owners some reprieve, and asked Obama if he wanted to proceed and Obama told him " there is only one president at a time". When he came in to power, he bailed out the banks.

[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

He campaigned explicitly on a platform of change and then proceeded to install a cast of deeply entrenched establishment figures to shore up the establishment at the expense of common people. Classic switcheroo.

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 7 hours ago

Then helped get Biden elected which led to trump winning again.

And not getting prosecuted by DOJ thanks to the wonderful AG Garland

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago

Obama was also in a position of power to actually do something about the Russian influence on the 2016 election - and he did nothing.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 57 points 1 day ago (3 children)

he labeled Trump a “wannabe dictator.”

Sure wish Democrats would quit downplaying the threat.

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 16 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Exactly. I just posted this in another thread...

  • He is setting tariffs on his own, a power designated solely to Congress by the Constitution.

  • He is having masked police kidnap people off the streets without warrants and shipping them to an overseas gulag without trial or even charges.

  • He is illegally refusing to distribute money allocated by Congress to certain states in order to punish them for not doing his bidding.

  • And when the courts have ordered him to stop doing the above, he has willfully ignored those court orders with no repercussions.

Exactly what more needs to happen for this to be a dictatorship?

[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 6 points 18 hours ago

These are just the things we know about. God knows else gets blocked internally, doesn't hit the news or doesn't pick up media traction.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 11 points 22 hours ago

I agree. It's absolutely fucking infuriating.

"Aggressively and rapidly installing himself as a dictator" would still be understating a bit.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 18 hours ago

Right? At what point do they feel it's appropriate to remove the "wannabe" part?

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 92 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Good, start the campaign now so that if Trump somehow crowbars in a law that allows him to run for a third term Obama can bury him

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 64 points 1 day ago (9 children)

I don't see that as a fix. A third term for either would be a higher level constitutional crisis than all the many ones trump has already initiated. Many failed like with his first impeachment for misappropriating federal funds to bribe a foreign official.

[–] freely1333@reddthat.com 8 points 22 hours ago

Everyone assumes Obama would easily win. I don’t think that’s a foregone conclusion. It would just make the third term fully legitimized.

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[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 65 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah bruh. It was imaginable. I fucking imagined it. Because it was goddamn obvious.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 31 points 1 day ago (8 children)

it lowkey became inevitable when the democrats didn't make blocking trump from ever being president their #1 focus

[–] freely1333@reddthat.com 6 points 22 hours ago

Became inevitable when democrats ran Biden the first time… anyone with two brain cells could tell a Biden that doesn’t deliver some absolutely insane legislation was done. He even ran on being a one term president. He needed to stay on that path hard and allow a real primary group to form so there were competing ideas out against Trump. Saying everything is great in the face of massive inflation isn’t really going to cut it.

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[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh my god shut the fuck up about it being “unimaginable”. They published the playbook online for anyone to see in 2020. They said they would follow the playbook. They are now following the playbook. They are completing sections of the playbook as written. They will continue to complete sections of the playbook as written, until they are either done executing the playbook, or removed from power somehow. None of this is a surprise. You are not allowed to be surprised by this.

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 68 points 1 day ago

This is a straw man. Obama was not saying that nobody knew what project 2025 was planning. He's saying that prior presidents could never have gotten away with behaving in ways that Trump behaves, and doing things that Trump does.

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