Former US President Barack Obama fired off one of his most direct criticisms of President Donald Trump yet in a new video for Joe Biden’s campaign.
The video ― a teaser for a longer conversation between Obama and Biden set for release later this week ― refers to Trump’s comment earlier this year that he’s not responsible for his administration’s failure to secure adequate testing and supplies for the coronavirus earlier in the outbreaks.
“I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump said in March when asked about the shortage of tests.
“Can you imagine standing up when you were president and saying ’it’s not my responsibility, I take no responsibility,’” Biden said in the clip. “I mean literally. Literally.”
Obama agreed.
“Those words didn’t come out of our mouths when we were in office,” he said.
Biden said Trump has no sense of what people are going through during the pandemic and resulting economic collapse.
“He just can’t relate in any way,” Biden said.
Obama replied by praising Biden’s ability to relate to others as a reason he was chosen to be vice president and was effective at the job:
Obama has rarely spoken out publicly against Trump, and hasn’t mentioned him by name very often, but has been blunt in private conversations. Last month, when Trump used racist terms such as “Kung Flu” to describe the coronavirus, Obama reportedly said in a private Zoom fundraiser that it “shocks and pisses me off.”
The former president has also criticised the Trump administration’s failed response to the coronavirus pandemic, praised Black Lives Matter protests and urged young people to vote.
The video of his full conversation with Biden is set to be released on Thursday.