In a rare statement, Obama issued a warning about the future of American democracy, cautioning that the country is “dangerously close” to normalizing behavior consistent with autocracies.”
At an event in Hartford, Connecticut, he aimed his criticism at Trump, without ever using his name.
“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.
What we’re seeing right now … is not consistent with American democracy,” he added. “It is consistent with autocracies. It is consistent with Hungary under Orbán. It’s consistent with places that hold elections but do not otherwise observe what we think of [as] a fair system in which everybody’s voice matters and people have a seat at the table, and there are checks and balances, and nobody’s above the law. We’re not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that.”