Obama to offer rare, blistering critique of Trump during convention speech

(Image credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

published 19 August 2020

The gloves are off.

Former President Barack Obama, who has gradually become more vocal in his criticism of President Trump, is set to give a speech Wednesday night as part of the 2020 Democratic National Convention that contains some withering descriptions of his successor.

An excerpt of Obama's prepared remarks released ahead of time says the former president knew Trump wouldn't "embrace my vision or continue my policies" when he took over the Oval Office in January 2017. But Obama says he hoped Trump would take the job seriously. Instead, he says Trump turned his tenure into "one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves." In turn, Obama will argue, that's left the United States in a troubled state, with the coronavirus costing the country tens of thousands of lives and millions of jobs, while unleashing "our worst impulses." Read the full excerpt below. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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