Obama Says US Moving 'Dangerously Close' To Autocracy Under Trump

Former president Barack Obama has said that the US is “dangerously close” to an autocracy. The popular Democrat, who delivered a speech in Hartford, Connecticut, is increasingly being called on as America’s “emotional support president,” Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah wrote this week, amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant, racist, transphobic, homophobic and anti-reproductive rights agenda. Obama did not explicitly name Trump — his twice-impeached, criminally convicted successor who incited the January 6, 2021, coup attempt — during his speech, according to CNN, which said that Obama has generally sought to stay out of everyday politics and refrain from direct attacks on his successor.However, Obama still pointed to the Trump administration in his speech, recordings of which were notably prohibited.“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, according to The New York Times. “It requires them to take that oath seriously, and when that isn’t happening, we start drifting into something that is not consistent with American democracy,” he said. “It is consistent with autocracies. It is consistent with Hungary under [Viktor] Orbán.”“We’re not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalising behaviour like that. And we need people both outside government and inside government saying, ‘Let’s not go over that cliff because it’s hard to recover,’” he added.The 44th president of the United States warned that the Trump administration is testing the nation’s commitment to democracy.“What’s happening is that we now have a situation in which all of us are going to be tested in some way, and we are going to have to then decide what our commitments are,” Obama added, according to CNN. “It will be uncomfortable for a time, but that’s how you know it’s a commitment – because you do it when it’s hard, not just when it’s easy, not just when it’s trendy, not just when it’s cool.” Obama’s remarks come after Trump hosted a $45 million military parade on Saturday. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said such military displays are reminiscent of the former Soviet Union and North Korea.The same day, there were approximately 2,000 “No Kings” protests against Trump in all 50 states to denounce his immigration agenda.Although Obama was once nicknamed the “deporter in chief” for removing close to 3 million people from the US during his tenure, Trump has attempted to paint his predecessors as “soft” on immigration.Trump and his border czar have threatened to arrest California officials who interfere with ICE operations, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who are Democrats.Democratic elected officials across the country have also been arrested while protesting Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Last week, for example, federal agents manhandled and handcuffed California Senator Alex Padilla for interrupting a Department of Homeland Security press conference.Political violence has also made headlines in recent weeks. Two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses were shot in politically motivated attacks on Saturday. One lawmaker and her spouse were killed, while the other couple survived.

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