Washington Examiner

Obama says its ‘hard to hope’ in Trump era

Former President Barack Obama delivered a somber eulogy at Jesse Jackson’s funeral in Chicago, saying that in the Trump era it’s “hard to hope” as Americans face daily assaults on democratic institutions, the rule of law, and basic decency. He criticized greed, bigotry, and the denigration of science, warning against a “clown show” in social media and politics. Obama credited Jackson wiht paving the way for a younger Black leader from Chicago’s South Side to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate,and urged people to hold on to civility,courtesy,and respect for the office. He attended the service without his wife and was seated in the front row with Joe and Jill Biden to his left, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, along with Kamala Harris, nearby.

The report also notes Obama’s broader criticisms of the trump administration’s actions—such as redistricting pressure, responses to protests, and environmental rollbacks—and references his remarks about a viral video depicting him and Michelle Obama. Separately, it mentions related political news, including depositions by the Clintons before a House committee in the Epstein investigation.


Obama says its ‘hard to hope’ in Trump era during Jesse Jackson funeral

Former President Barack Obama provided a dim outlook of the country during his eulogy for the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, saying, “it’s hard to hope.”

Obama told the crowd gathered at the House of Hope on Chicago’s South Side for Jackson’s funeral that “each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions,” “another setback to the idea of the rule of law,” and “an offense to common decency,” alluding to President Donald Trump and his administration.

“Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible,” the former president said Friday. “Each day we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all.”

For Obama, “everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength.”

“We see science and expertise denigrated, while ignorance, and dishonesty, and cruelty, and corruption are reaping untold rewards,” he said. “Every single day. We see that, and it’s hard to hope.”

Although Obama campaigned hard against Trump during all three of the incumbent’s presidential campaigns and even before last year’s off-year elections, he did moderate his criticism, at least publicly, during Trump’s first term.

However, since Trump’s second inauguration, Obama has increased his scrutiny, particularly of the president’s pressure on state legislators to redistrict mid-decade, the shooting deaths of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement demonstrators in Minnesota by federal law enforcement officers, and even the current administration’s dismantling of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding.

Obama also indirectly responded to Trump’s sharing a video on social media last month in which he and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, were depicted as apes.

“You know, it is true that it gets attention,” he told YouTuber and podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen. “It’s true that it’s a distraction. But, you know, as I’m traveling around the country, as you’re traveling around the country, you meet people. They still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness. And there’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television. And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum. And a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? So that’s been lost.”

Obama on Friday did use the microphone to memorialize Jackson too, thanking the one-time civil rights activist and two-time Democratic presidential candidate for paving the “path” for a “young black senator from Chicago’s South Side … [to] be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidential nomination.”

“The message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn’t any place, any room, where we didn’t belong,” he said.

Barack Obama attended the funeral without his wife, with a spokeswoman for the former first couple not responding to a request for comment as to why.

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Barack Obama was flanked in the front row by former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden to his left, and by former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris, on his right.

The Clintons appeared last week for separate depositions before the House oversight committee as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.


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