Former President Obama Sounds Alarm
Obama’s Warning on Democracy
Barack Obama cautioned that Donald Trump’s leadership threatens U.S. democratic values. Speaking in Hartford, Connecticut, he expressed alarm over the country’s shift away from long-held principles.
Erosion of Democratic Norms
Obama criticized current federal leadership, saying, “There is a weak commitment to what we understood… our understanding of how a liberal democracy is supposed to work.”
Call for Collective Resistance
He stressed the need for action from both citizens and officials: “There has to be a response and pushback from civil society… but there also have to be people in government in both parties who say, ‘No, you can’t do that.’”
Dangerous Political Trends
Obama compared the U.S. trend to illiberal regimes, warning, “It is consistent with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.” Though America isn’t fully authoritarian, he warned, “We’re not there yet completely, but… we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that.”
