Obama calls Trump 'racist, sexist and nativist' during virtual fundraiser for Biden: report
At private virtual fundraisers for Joe Biden, former U.S. President Barack Obama has decried current U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him “racist, sexist and nativist,” according to a New York Times report .
A pointed series of remarks, made across a number of online events, are said to have included an “oblique” reference by Obama to Nazi Germany, according to the Times, citing people familiar with the conversations.
Obama, the Times reports, has held a number of recent “intimate” chats that have shifted $24 million into Biden’s election race coffers. A recent Zoom convention organized by George Clooney sold tickets ranging from $250 to $250,000.
The question that sparked Obama’s response on Trump was when he was asked what keeps him up at night. Obama’s answer, given to Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker in a chat laid on for party donors, was voter suppression and Trump’s attempts to discredit the upcoming election.
Talking to Pritzker, Obama stated: “It’s just glued to Fox News and Breitbart and Limbaugh and just this conservative echo chamber — and so, they’re going to turn out to vote… What he has unleashed and what he continues to try to tap into is the fears and anger and resentment of people who, in some cases, really are having a tough time and have seen their prospects, or communities where they left, declining. And Trump tries to tap into that and redirect in nativist, racist, sexist ways.”
“The endpoint of that we saw in Europe 60 years ago, 70 years ago — what happens when those things get unleashed,” Obama said according to the notes. “You don’t nip that in the bud, bad things can happen. Among the most quote unquote civilized societies.”
During a separate for-donor conversation with LinkedIn magnate Reid Hoffman, Obama touched on Trump’s attempts to inflame anti-Asian sentiment, particular his labelling of COVID-19 as the “China virus” and the “kung flu virus.”
“That still shocks and pisses me off,” Obama said, telling the crowd he hoped his seriousness was emanating through the screen. “We already saw this guy win once… After he bragged about physically assaulting women — and that didn’t seem to matter. So, enough said. Let’s get to work.”
The Hoffman event raised $5.6 million and the Pritzker event raised more than $3 million, the New York Times reported. Obama’s team did not deny his comments but did not provide further comment.
