Obama warns Trump administration has 'weak commitment' to democracy
Former President Barack Obama warned about a "weak commitment" to democracy by President Donald Trump's administration and the U.S. "drifting" into autocracy during a speech in Connecticut, according to media reports.
Obama spoke with Boston College professor and popular newsletter writer Heather Cox Richardson at the The Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Hartford June 17.
“If you follow regularly what is said by those who are in charge of the federal government right now, there is a weak commitment to what we understood – and not just my generation, at least since World War II – our understanding of how a liberal democracy is supposed to work,” Obama said.
Obama didn't mention Trump. But he worried about the nation "drifting into something that is not consistent with American democracy. It is consistent with autocracies.”
"We're not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that,” Obama said, according to reports.
Trump's expansive use of executive power sparked more than 2,100 "No Kings" protests around the country June 14 that drew more than five million people, according to organizers.
“I don't feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get stuff approved,” Trump said when asked about the protests.
Obama's speech was a rare public appearance for the former president. He has kept a relatively low profile since Trump took office for a second time and embarked on a tumultuous agenda.
Amid stark political divisions, evidenced by violent protests in Los Angeles over Trump's deportation efforts and the assassination of a Minnesota Democratic lawmaker and her husband, Obama said he remains "optimistic."
"I’m still the ‘hope’ guy,” he said.