Obama On Trump: ‘President Who Doesn’t Know Their Stuff’ Is ‘Scary’

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During an interview with NBC’s “Today” that aired Wednesday morning, President Obama said that it is worrisome that Donald Trump has put little effort into learning about certain issues.

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie asked Obama if he was concerned about the prospect of Trump having the nuclear codes.

“What I think is scary is a president who doesn’t know their stuff and doesn’t seem to have an interest in learning what they don’t know,” Obama said in response.

“I think if you listen to any press conference he’s given or listen to any of those debates, basic knowledge about the world, or what a nuclear triad is, or where various countries are, or the difference between Sunni and Shi’ia in the Muslim world, those are things that he doesn’t know and hasn’t seemed to spend a lot of time trying to find out,” he continued.

And when asked if there is a chance that Trump could win the presidency, Obama said that “anything is possible.” He then warned that Democrats cannot let their guard down in the 2016 election.

“So, my advice to Democrats — and I don’t have to give this advice to Hillary Clinton, because she already knows it — is you stay worried until all those those votes are cast and counted because you know, one of the dangers in an election like this is that people don’t take the challenge seriously. They stay home. And we end up getting the unexpected,” he said.

Watch part of the interview via NBC News:

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Notable Replies

  1. This is exactly the right thing to say about Trump. First of all, it’s true.
    Second, it is an orange flag for Trump. He HAS to disagree and say that he knows plenty. If the pressure keeps up, then he will challenge people to ask him questions, or something similar, at which point—POOF!

  2. Dubya: It really doesn’t matter what POTUS knows or not. I still don’t know much and I did fine. You can always hire smart people, just like I did.

  3. Avatar for lio lio says:

    And it was also the right thing to say about the election. This election isn’t a gimme for Democrats and we have to GOTV.

  4. Likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday that he consults with himself on issues like foreign policy because he has “a very good brain.”
    Asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” who he talks with “consistently” about foreign affairs, Mr. Trump responded, “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” Politico reported.
    The mogul pointed to his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” where he made a reference to Osama bin Laden before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
    “I know what I’m doing, and I listen to a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people, and at the appropriate time I’ll tell you who the people are,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday. “But I speak to a lot of people, but my primary consultant is myself, and I have a good instinct for this stuff.”

    “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain

  5. one definition of ‘smart people’ is that they hold the same opinions that you do… also known as confirmation bias…

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