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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[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] melfie@lemmings.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

He should’ve also jailed the oligarchs responsible for the 2008 crash, but as revealed in Wikileaks, his cabinet was selected in an email from Citigroup. Obama is also a war criminal with all of the civilians killed in his many drone strikes. Everyone was excited about the first black president, but he was just more of the same, except with more melanin. Along with helping the decline of the American healthcare system by slobbing the knobs of the insurance oligarchs with ACA, the economic prospects of an entire generation were ruined. The broken trust during his presidency was largely responsible for the USA going from its first black president to its first orange one.

[–] barneypiccolo@lemm.ee 4 points 15 hours ago

I can't argue with this at all. Obama was huge disappointment.

I can't say i was surprised. When i saw him at that giant rally after his election, with everyone going wild at how much things were going to get better, I just knew it was going to be more of the same neo-liberal, Republican Lite bullshit we'd had for the Clinton administration. I doubted it would seem much different than the Bush administration. Throughout his campaign, with the slogan of Hope & Change, it seemed like he leaned much harder on the Hope than the Change.

His constant appeasement with Republicans when he had the majority in Congress really pissed me off. He consistently deferred to them, altering legislation to suit them, hoping it would draw their votes, and they kicked him in the balls every time. You'd think he'd learn after the first couple, but he didn't, but he still gave into them over and over, without anything in return but disdain.

And he really blew it with Obamacare, which was a perfect example of his appeasement strategy. It was an improvement on a broken system, but just because the tub drains a little quicker doesn't make it fixed. He could have created a new system, but he adopted Romney's system and dropped the public option, all to attract Republican votes, and they all voted No anyway, thanks to McConnell.

If you are going to create and pass Republican legislation, just become a Republican and be done with it.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 40 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

Nobody fucking listened.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day 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.

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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 40 points 1 day 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 28 points 1 day ago

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

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 97 points 2 days 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 65 points 2 days ago (8 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 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] YarHarSuperstar@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

I mean... Are we also forgetting that Obama himself was not exactly the best president ever? If we're keeping any part of this system we probably don't want an establishment Democrat who bombed a LOT of people running the country when we need a transition away from regressive, non-people centered (aka non-solution focused, non-evidence based, non-need-meeting, etc) policy and systems to using methods that are responsible and effective and center harm reduction/prevention and meeting needs as priority goals and establishing a way of doing things that better represents (and identifies and acknowledges and strives to meet) the actual needs of people.

[–] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Besides the fact that Trump has already telegraphed a possible plan to allow for three terms only if they're non-consecutive.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 23 points 2 days ago

I mean thats great but it should not be allowed any more than any presidential law break is allowed. The solution is not to go with it and also do it.

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[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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.

[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 70 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 33 points 2 days 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 7 points 1 day 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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[–] grue@lemmy.world 59 points 2 days ago (3 children)

he labeled Trump a “wannabe dictator.”

Sure wish Democrats would quit downplaying the threat.

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day 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 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] elfin8er@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Senator Booker listed ways that Donald Trump has hurt America and Americans for TWENTY FIVE HOURS!

[–] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 17 hours ago

25 hours? He must have heavily summarised to get it done that quick

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

I agree. It's absolutely fucking infuriating.

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

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[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 33 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.

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

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

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

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

[–] WuceBrillis@lemm.ee 11 points 1 day ago

https://archive.ph/QbtHO

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

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 days 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 70 points 2 days 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.

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Tariffs are basically tax on Americans.

[–] jimjam5@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (7 children)

If any President in recent history should return for a third term, I’d vote for Obama again in a heartbeat.

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I was rooting for a Jimmy Carter second term but that’ll be tough now.

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