Obama says White nationalists 'explicitly rally around Trump'

Source: CNN Politics

Published 3:29 PM EDT, Wed October 23, 2024


CNN — Former President Barack Obama said at a private fundraiser Monday evening that Donald Trump is “somebody who White nationalists explicitly rally around,” going further than how he has ripped into the former president in a series of intense recent campaign rallies. The comments, relayed to CNN by by two people who heard the remarks, came in response to a question Obama took from the small audience at the Chicago home of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The fundraiser brought in $4 million for Kamala Harris’ campaign

Speaking about Harris and referencing both Trump hosting Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago in 2022 and his reaction to the 2017 White nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, Obama said: “She’s running against a guy who had lunch with a Holocaust denier. When there was a march with lanterns, the only thing missing was the pitchforks, saying, ‘We shall not be replaced.’ He said, ‘There are good people on both sides.’”

The comments come as Trump has dug in deeper with his anti-immigrant rhetoric and warned of “an enemy from within,” with his former White House chief of staff John Kelly going public with remarks that Trump made multiple approving comments about Adolf Hitler. The former president’s campaign has denied the allegations.

While Trump is appealing to Americans’ worst impulses, Obama said Monday, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are appealing to their best impulses. Obama said Trump is “tapping into what may already be some underlying biases that people have, and he’s stoking them.” What starts as people thinking it’s funny to have Trump put down immigrants, the disabled or other groups, Obama said, then leads to people who “start feeling, ‘Oh, this is fair game.’”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/23/politics/obama-trump-white-nationalists-fundraiser/index.html