Obama Blasts Trump Covid Response

A leaked private phone call of former President Barack Obama reveals his highly critical take on the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and its recent decision to abandon the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

In a Yahoo News story that includes exclusive audio of the call, Obama is heard reportedly talking to former members of his administration in a nearly two-minute long clip. The former president starts off expressing his dismay and alarm at the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case against Flynn, despite the former Trump adviser twice pleading guilty to lying to the FBI in open court.

“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed,” Obama said. “And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”

Obama then emphasized the importance of the upcoming election and his desire to defeat President Donald Trump.

“I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do,” Obama aded. “Whenever I campaign, I’ve always said, ‘Ah, this is the most important election,’ especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it’s the most important election. This one — I’m not on the ballot — but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen.”

Later on during the conversation, Obama laid into the Trump White House’s Covid-19 response, and connected it to the surge of right-wing tribalism across the planet.

“It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,” he said. “It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”

I miss him so much. Well spoken, humanist.

Fuck Trump!

And, absolutely no accident that this was "leaked".

Done on purpose to piss off Trump and rally the Dems to get out the vote to dump the Republicans in November.

Here's a link to the Yahoo article, written by Michael Isikoff, the guy who famously interviewed Michael Flynn at the GOP Convention in July 2016. It includes the audio of the call...

Even in supposedly private moments he is so measured and succinct. I miss him so much. Hell, I even miss George W. Bush after seeing the disaster that Trump is.

[quote]Even in supposedly private moments he is so measured and succinct.

Indeed, and the 'measured and succinct' shows that this was hardly deeply private and off-guard. It might as well have been said on prime-time TV.

Not complaining, I'm beyond glad Obama has broken his silence, as though he could bear the situation in his country no longer. Reading the words of an intelligent mature adult feels like a draught of crucial common sense in the pandemic wasteland.

The further benefit is that the words will incense Trump, specially as his staff fall sick. To quote a current phrase, he'll be 'lava level mad.' We await the ugly stupidity of Trump's uncontrollable response.

Cue the Trumpturds screaming for his impeachment.

[quote]Later on during the conversation, Obama laid into the Trump White House’s Covid-19 response, and connected it to the surge of right-wing tribalism across the planet.

[quote]“It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,” he said. “It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”

This is an important point by Obama -- it's probably not a coincidence that 2 of the worst responses with the highest death tolls have been the United States (Trump) and the UK (Johnson).

[quote]I even miss George W. Bush after seeing the disaster that Trump is.

It's true that Bush was noble in not speaking ill of or criticizing his successor. It's unfortunate that others have not followed his example.

The comment section under that article is something else.

This "leak" was no accident as R5 said. But, Obama wasn't lying.

Swing states need to vote 45 out and blue all the way down the God-damned ballot.

[quote]it's probably not a coincidence that 2 of the worst responses with the highest death tolls have been the United States...

That's disinformation. The U.S. has a significantly lower death rate than Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, etc.

R12, Yahoo attracts the absolute worst bots and, yes, Russian, Chinese, and every other kind of troll.

R15, R11 must've gotten bored with posting over there so is "honoring" us with his attempt to attack Obama.

R11, you recall the Iraq war and 9/11, right? Do tell what Obama did that was worse than what Bush did and worthy of criticism after the disaster he himself was, because that's obviously the very stupid knock you were attempting on Obama.

[quote]That's disinformation. The U.S. has a significantly lower death rate than Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, etc.

The U.S. had more notice & time to act after what it had seen happening in Europe, particularly Italy.

Trump & his administration chose to act slowly and the death rate would have been lower if he hadn't acted like it was a hoax.

[quote]Trump & his administration chose to act slowly and the death rate would have been lower if he hadn't acted like it was a hoax.

Public health is handled at the state and local level by the governors and mayors. There is the study tracing infections in the U.S. to New York. From the NYT article: "New York City’s coronavirus outbreak grew so large by early March that the city became the primary source of new infections in the United States, new research reveals, as thousands of infected people traveled from the city and seeded outbreaks around the country. The research indicates that a wave of infections swept from New York City through much of the country before the city began setting social distancing limits to stop the growth. That helped to fuel outbreaks in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and as far away as the West Coast."

If New York had implemented restrictions earlier, fewer people would have died across the country.

R16 I just want to gently remind you of one of Datalounge's most important suggestions: Please don't feed the trolls!

R16: Had you not even responded I would never have known r15 was missing. I have blocked just 2 or 3 trolls a long time ago for posting predictable, boring stuff - since my r15 is missing, there's your answer.

Love it!

I hope someone edits the audio into a Biden ad.

This isn't a time for "when they go low, we go high" mentality.

This election is about life and death, the American way of life and democracy itself.

Obama and all Democrats need to step up to the plate and hit home runs.

Go for the jugular. We all know the GOP will stop at nothing to win.

Let’s admit — Obama’s aloof, arrogant, and not a very effective politician. Also surprisingly right of center on a lot of issues (and I say that as basically a centrist democrat who strongly supported him TWICE in elections).

But he’s still absolutely Abraham Lincoln compared to Trump.

^^^ By the way by politician I don’t mean candidate. He was a masterful candidate. I mean doing the business of actually governing.

I am an Obama bot, I fully admit. But Trump is so far beyond the pale that the concept of not speaking against your successor doesn't apply. He is correct but all I have to say is "NOW a warning?"

“Aloof, arrogant, and not an effective politician”? I absolutely disagree.

That describes Trump a lot more than President Obama.

Those 78,000 dead are all ACTORS! FAKE NEWS! DEMOCRAT HOAX! TRUMP/PENCE/RONA 2020!

There's no such thing as "A leaked private phone call of former President Barack Obama". He wanted this to get out. Good for him.

[quote]That's disinformation. The U.S. has a significantly lower death rate than Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, etc.

NYT: Globally, the average death rate is 34 people per million residents. In the United States, it’s more than six times higher — 232 per million.

Every 49 seconds or so, throughout the first week in May, an American has been dying of this disease. With 1.3 million reported cases, the United States, just five percent of the world’s population, has nearly 33 percent of the sick. With more than 75,000 deaths, we’re at the front of the pack as well. No country comes close on all three measures.

Eh, that's not quite right, r30 and the NYT should know better. A more accurate comparison would be to compare the US to other larger, developed countries.

He governed fine but he was against the GOP who vowed to not let him do his job from Day 1.

Our one job is to make him [Obama] a one term president - Mitch McConnell

Because nothing like a leech senator from a leech state with a population smaller than NYC alone getting to decide his job is to be a demon who puts personal interests above the well-being of the nation.

One thing is for sure. This has got every deplorable and WS having meltdowns and shitfits on every blog and comment section.

Has Trump tweeted in response yet?

If this makes Trump melt down and froth at the mouth, I'm fine with it.

Dump is overdue for a heart attack.

There's one way to ensure a victory, Pres. Obama: convince your wife to join the ticket as VP.

R33: never stop reminding them.

r39 = moron

R41 = Republican

[quote] Aloof, arrogant, and not an effective politician”? I absolutely disagree.

Well then you must not have been paying attention between 2009 and 2017. He even rubbed legislators on his own side the wrong way, and once he lost the house, forget about it. He was totally unable to play the game.

Contrast that with Bill Clinton, who outfoxed and manipulated the republicans on multiple occasions even after they took control of Congress.

It wasn’t *all* bad — he got the stimulus through that saved the economy — but it’s mostly a sad record of executive power.

[quote] That describes Trump a lot more than President Obama.

I specifically said that Obama was a vastly better president than Trump is.

[quote] He governed fine but he was against the GOP who vowed to not let him do his job from Day 1.

The mark of a good president is not “how did he do when everything was going his way?”

[quote]One thing is for sure. This has got every deplorable and WS having meltdowns and shitfits on every blog and comment section.

From my local news FB page:

[quote]Donna Layton: Of course when the going is about over you speak out like you could have done better

[quote]Sydney Jones: Hell trump is doing a good job!!!🇺🇸 at least he is not on a golf course like Obama used to be all the time, Obama is a flipping joke.

[quote]Darlene Lee: But, look at the H1N1 fiasco when he was in office. Oops, there wasn't one because he wasn't interested in how many Americans died from that.

[quote]Pam Wiley Welch: Like he could do a better job!! Give me a break!

[quote]Tim Parker: Dude take a seat and stay out of it.. Your pathetic time is over!

[quote]Pam Keyes: I miss hearing his voice like I miss having the runs.

[quote]Danny Biggerstaff: If he was in office he would have been apologizing to China for them starting this virus. What a weak President he was, thank God we have a strong President in office during this.

[quote]Jack E Leggette: you are so full of s**t You gave china the money to create the virus

[quote]Darlene Bowen: I think our president has done everything humanly possible, he's trying to get things opened back up before the Democrats destroy us all

[quote]Jeffrey Sylvia: Obama..the great community organizer...who won an election based solely on the color of his skin...talk about a joke

[quote]Robert Striebeck: That sorry evil Muslim SOB should just keep his mouth shut Nothing he has to say is worth listening to

[quote]Wiley Earnhardt: This cartoon character is so full of s***. In 8 years he never once handled anything about National problem or anything else. All he do is run around and apologize for being an American. He is ridiculous and a moron.

[quote]Brenda Brown: It wouldn't have been, but thanks to Obummer medical device taxes in 2012, all manufacturing of the necessary medical devices got shipped overseas! Then Dumbocrats obviously didn't hear the news in January that the virus was here, so the big business hospitals didn't bother stocking up on needed supplies. Stop blaming GOP for Dumbocrats ignorance. Another pathetic attempt to coverup you golden boy Ovomit and his tragic legacy of collusion and lies.

[quote]Jeffrey Sylvia: Someone take this loser and make him disappear

[quote]Tony Sargent: Obama just needs to keep his mouth shut and get prepared for GITMO

[quote]Jo Crews: What a a complete joke!

[quote]Karen Greeson: You POS! YOU ARE INSIGNIFICANT

^I hope every single of them dies a painful death

one*

They are still getting misinformation about H1N1. I guess they are too fucking stupid to vett their news sources.

H1N1: 12.000 deaths = total disaster, Obama administration = total failure

Covid 19: Soon to be 100k+ deaths = great success story and the president did all for the American people he could possibly do

[quote]Darlene Bowen: I think our president has done everything humanly possible, he's trying to get things opened back up before the Democrats destroy us all

The stupidity and non-logic here are obviously other-dimensional. 'The Onion'-level surreal. But just one takeaway is the 'belief' that Democrats en masse can be seen as more destructive than Covid-19.

No regrets ever about seeing such as the 'view' of deplorables. Trump's people were named correctly from the start.

[quote]The U.S. has a significantly lower death rate than Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, etc.

Not anymore it doesn't. Countries like Italy, Spain, and France have bent their curves downward; we haven't. Our death rate today exceeds theirs, whether measured as a total or as a percentage of population.

Back on topic: it absolutely kills Trump that Obama was more successful as President and is more popular today than he is.

[quote]A more accurate comparison would be to compare the US to other larger, developed countries.

And an even more accurate comparison would be to compare the U.S. current daily death to the daily death toll of those other larger, developed countries.

And, absolutely no accident that this was "leaked".

Done on purpose to piss off Trump and rally the Dems to get out the vote to dump the Republicans in November.

I was thinking that too; Obama is trolling the Troll - he knows Dump is on the ropes, so he's trying to get his head by "leaking" information about what a disaster Dump has created. I like that he doesn't directly address Dump - just tries to engage in a massive mind-fuck...Keep it up Barry!

[quote]Sydney Jones: Hell trump is doing a good job!!!🇺🇸 at least he is not on a golf course like Obama used to be all the time, Obama is a flipping joke.

How do you get to this point of insanity?

You do realize most of those comments are not from "real" people. They're paid bots.

r54, exactly. I don't understand how anyone can still be confused about this fact.

R55, because we see these idiots in IRL. We can't keep pretending every single one of them is a "bot."

I know there are bots, but it's not as if there aren't ample examples of people who think like this. People who literally got affordable healthcare under Obama for the first times in their miserable lives and hated even giving him credit for it and still vote Republican.

I miss The big O

[quote]The comment section under that article is something else.

And those freeper cunt fucks fully intend to vote come November.

Bump

He’s still too reserved when he’s angry. For once I want to hear him yelling obscenities and hurling insults.

He has class. He’s the anti-Trump r60

"Leaked".

So why are Americans even putting up with all this abuse?

At what point will they push back, even a little bit?

"[R55], because we see these idiots in IRL. We can't keep pretending every single one of them is a "bot.""

Yes, just look at the videos of Trumpsters yelling and trying to engage journalists at Trump's factory visit in Arizona last week. These people are real and batshit crazy and defend whatever their Orange overlord does.

R44’s post is exactly why WE HAVE TO FUCKING GET OUT AND VOTE IN NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now they're talking about indicting Obama. I'll pop the popcorn.

They'll get to that right after they finish locking up Hillary Clinton, R66.

Cuntface McConnell: "Obama should have kept his mouth shut"

That article at R67 is ridiculous; like Turtle McFuckface gives a shit about tradition. But I do love the Obama pissed him off to the point that McConnell felt the need to go cry on the shoulder of that hatched faced cunt Lara Dump

[quote]like Turtle McFuckface gives a shit about tradition.

He says as he ignores it when it comes to the Trump presidency and that corrupt family. He truly is the only person I hope dies a painful death more than Trump himself.

Like you kept your mouth shut when Obama wanted a bipartisan rebuke of Russian interference in 2016, you miserable turtle?