In a climax of his speech, President Barack Obama unleashed a series of criticisms on President Donald Trump, saying that it “should not be Democratic or Republican” to call the press enemies of the people, or to pressure the FBI to punish political opponents.
Citing a recent Trump tweet where he suggested that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should not prosecute Republicans and threaten the midterms, Obama said, “[It should not be Democratic or Republican] to explicitly call on the attorney general to protect members of our own party from prosecution because an election happens to be coming up. I’m not making that up. That’s not hypothetical.”
In a moment of derision, he quiped: “We’re supposed to stand up to discrimination, and we’re sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers. How hard can that be? Saying that Nazis are bad?”
“We’re supposed to stand up to bullies,” he said, stony-faced. “Not follow them.”
