Obama says Trump appeals to 'folks who feel left out'

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Speaking with CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview aired Sunday, President Obama offered his perspective on what parts of American society find Donald Trump's candidacy appealing — and, perhaps more important, what parts don't.

"[I]f you look at the current polls, he's been able to appeal to a certain group of folks who feel left out or are worried about the rapidity of demographic change, social change, who, in some cases, have very legitimate concerns around the economy and feeling left behind," Obama said. "But that's not the majority of America. And if you talk to younger people, the next generation of Americans, they completely reject the kinds of positions that he's taking."

Obama also expressed optimism that impulses of mistrust toward outsiders which help fuel Trump's campaign will fade over time, as similar feelings have previously faded in American history. "[T]he long-term trend is people get absorbed, people get assimilated," Obama argued, "and we benefit from this incredible country in which the measure of your patriotism and how American you are is not the color of your skin, your last name, your faith, but rather your adherence to a creed, your belief in certain principles and values."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.