Former President Barack Obama calls out Trump double standard: ‘Imagine if I had done any of this’

By Gerren Keith Gaynor, TheGriot

“It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama called out a double standard, suggesting that if he had done what President Donald Trump has in his first few months in office, the public outrage would be loud and swift.

“Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama said on Thursday during an on-stage interview at Hamilton College, according to CNN. “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”

Obama specifically condemned Trump for using his presidential bully pulpit to force private institutions to bend to his political will. “Imagine if I had said to law firms that were representing parties that were upset with policies my administration had initiated that you will not be allowed into government buildings,” said America’s first Black president. “We will punish you economically for dissenting from the [Obamacare] or the Iran Deal.”

He added, “The idea that a White House can say to law firms, if you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively…that kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans.”

President Obama said he is “more deeply concerned” with the Trump administration’s threats to American universities “if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech.”

Obama also commented on Trump’s tariff wars.

Many people had an unwritten fear of a Black president.

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