President Obama takes thinly veiled swipes at Donald Trump in Rutgers commencement speech

President Obama speaks at the Rutgers 2016 commencement
(Image credit: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

On Sunday, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to give the commencement speech at New Jersey's Rutgers University, celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. In a 45-minute speech before 10,000 graduates and 40,000 guests, Obama joked about local sandwiches, a local bar, and how this generation is terrible at spelling and penmanship (though "smarter and better educated than my generation," he added), while also taking several clear swipes at presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name.

"The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it's becoming more connected every day," Obama said at one point. "Building walls won't change that." At another, he took implicit aim at Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan and rhetoric. "The good old days weren't all that good," he said. "In fact, by almost every measure, America is better and the world is better than it was 50 years ago or 30 years ago or even eight years ago ... When you hear someone longing for the good old days, take it with a grain of salt."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.