Barack Obama has lashed out at Donald Trump over what the former US president described as a "shambolic, disorganised, mean-spirited approach to governance", also berating POTUS for his stance on the coronavirus.
He made the remarks during a virtual grassroots fundraiser with former US Vice President and current presumptive Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden on Tuesday.
“What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be”, Obama asserted.
Ex-POTUS Obama also blamed Trump for "actively" promoting "division" and for thinking “some American[s] in this country more real than others”.
According to Obama, “that, we haven't seen out of the White House in a very long time”.
On Trump’s position pertaining to COVID-19, the 44th US president bashed POTUS for his earlier moves to play down the outbreak threat by notably calling it a “hoax” and comparing the coronavirus to the seasonal flu.
“That suggests facts don't matter, science doesn't matter, that suggests a deadly disease is fake news", Obama said, referring to “poor Dr Fauci, who's having to testify and then see his advice flouted by the person he's working for”.
Anthony Fauci is America's top infectious disease expert, who warned on Tuesday of "disturbing surge of infections" in such states as Florida, Texas, and Arizona, which he suggested could be a result of an "increase of community spread".
Separately, Obama urged Americans to vote for Biden, adding, “we can't be complacent or smug or say it's so obvious this president hasn't done a good job; look, he won once”.
Trump, for his part, was quick to retaliate by reportedly saying during a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona later on Tuesday that he was “only here because of President Obama and the job he did, [and Biden and] the job he didn't do”.
This was preceded by POTUS in mid-May rejecting Obama's previous criticism of the White House’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Look, he was an incompetent president. That's all I can say. Grossly incompetent", Trump told reporters when asked to reflect on Obama's comments.
The former US president formally endorsed Biden in April after Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders' withdrawal from the 2020 US presidential race. The Tuesday fundraiser was Obama’s and Biden’s first joint appearance for the former VP's election campaign.