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Obama weighed in on the GOP presidential race Thursday during a joint press conference with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
"I have been blamed by Republicans for a lot of things, but being blamed for their primaries, and who they're selecting for their primary is novel," Obama said
President Barack Obama weighed in on the Republican presidential primary race Thursday, saying attempts to blame him for the rise of Donald Trump is “novel.”
“I have been blamed by Republicans for a lot of things, but being blamed for their primaries, and who they’re selecting for their primary is novel,” Obama said.
Obama got laughs during a joint press conference at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when the U.S. President was asked about some Republicans blaming him for the rise of GOP presidential front-runner Trump.
Obama said it was actually the Republican establishment and media who created an environment that a Trump candidacy could thrive in.
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“Objectively, it’s fair to say that the Republican political elites, and many of the information outlets, social media, news outlets and television stations have been feeding the Republican base for the last seven years,” he said.
Obama also noted Republican rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are not that different from the business mogul when it comes to certain policies.
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“It’s not as if there’s a massive difference between Mr. Trump’s position on immigration,” Obama told reporters. “Mr. Trump just may be more provocative in how he says it, but the actual positions aren’t that different. For that matter, they’re not that different from Mr. Rubio’s positions on immigration. Despite the fact that their families are the products of immigration and the openness of our society.”