During an interview on CNN last week, former President Barack Obama perpetuated the Democrat Party’s claim that American “democracy” is at risk, Mediaite reported.
Last Thursday, the former president appeared on the CNN special “Obama & Amanpour: Will Democracy Win?” where CNN’s Christiane Amanpour asked Obama to weigh in on the Justice Department indicting former President Donald Trump.
Amanpour asked Obama what it would mean to the rest of the “democratic world” that Trump can run for president despite being under federal indictment.
Calling it “less than ideal,” Obama argued that the Justice Department indicting Trump shows the world that “nobody is above the law.” He said that the allegations made against the former president will be weighed in a court of law.
While Obama believes that Trump’s indictment is not ideal, he told Amanpour that he is “more concerned” about the ” anti-democratic sentiment” in the United States today, including “gerrymandering of districts,” the attempts to “silence critics through changes” in the “legislative process,” and the “attempts to intimidate the press.”
Obama claimed that this “anti-democratic sentiment” is becoming “most prominent” among those in the Republican Party, but added that it isn’t necessarily “unique” to a single party.
Obama claimed that before he left office, there was an agreement between both sides that there should be a “free and open exchange of ideas” as well as an agreement “to the rules of the game” even when the outcome may not be something one side likes.
He added that he believes this “weakened” after he left the White House and suggested that it must be strengthened again.
Obama was also asked about President Biden calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “dictator,” which the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning described as a “blatant political provocation.”
Obama told Amanpour that it was “complicated,” explaining that the president has to do business with the Chinese since they are important both for “national security reasons” and “a range of economic interests.”
