Obama: I would have 'enjoyed campaigning against Trump'
President Obama isn't threatened by Donald Trump — in fact, he kind of wishes that he could have run against him. "I would've enjoyed campaigning against Trump," Obama said in an interview with GQ published Tuesday. "That would've been fun."
Obama has said before that while he thinks Trump is a "great publicity seeker" and the "classic reality TV character," he doesn't think the Republican presidential candidate actually stands a chance at being his successor. "I don't think he'll end up being president of the United States," Obama said flat out in an October interview with 60 Minutes.
The real-estate mogul sees it differently, however. In fact, Trump told The Des Moines Register, if he had run in 2012, he thinks he very well could have beaten Obama for the seat in the Oval Office. "I would've won the race against Obama," Trump said in January, before he'd officially entered the 2016 race. "He would've been easy. Hillary [Clinton] is tougher to beat than Obama, but Hillary is very beatable."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
One can only wonder: Is Clinton thanking Obama for letting her have all the fun?
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Will Japan’s first female prime minister defy sumo’s ban on women?Under the Radar Sanae Takaichi must decide whether to break with centuries of tradition and step into the ring to present the trophy
-
Political cartoons for November 16Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include presidential pardons, the Lincoln penny, and more
-
The vast horizons of the Puna de AtacamaThe Week Recommends The ‘dramatic and surreal’ landscape features volcanoes, fumaroles and salt flats
-
Trump DOJ sues to block California redistrictingSpeed Read California’s new congressional map was drawn by Democrats to flip Republican-held House seats
-
GOP retreats from shutdown deal payout provisionSpeed Read Senators are distancing themselves from a controversial provision in the new government funding package
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day