Obama is Sure Trump Will Not Become a President

• 02.17.2016, 23:26
•  America,  World

reemalaysiatoday.com

President Barack Obama criticized Republican frontrunner Donald Trump as unfit for the presidency during a press conference held on Tuesday.

Obama spoke about the difficulty of being president and reiterated his belief that Americans would not elect Trump,  The Voice of America reports.

"I continue to believe that Mr. Trump will not be president. I have a lot of faith in the American people. And I think they recognize that being president is a serious job," Obama said. "It's not hosting a talk show or a reality show. It's not promotion. It's not marketing. It's hard."

Obama has been critical of Trump before — especially on his anti-Muslim rhetoric. But after hosting a summit of leaders from 10 Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday, Obama gave a more specific critique of Trump's foreign policy credentials.

Obama also noted that he hasn't just been critical of Trump. "I mean, I find it interesting that everybody's focused on Trump, primarily just because he says in more interesting ways what the other candidates are saying as well," he said. "He may up the ante in anti-Muslim sentiment, but if you look at what the other Republican candidates have said, that's pretty troubling, too. He may express strong anti-immigration sentiment, but you've heard that from the other candidates as well."

Obama appeared eager to say that none of the Republicans were ready to lead. Without saying so directly, he suggested that Trump and the other Republicans would wilt under the pressures of the job he has held the last seven years, The New York Times reports.

The words represented Obama's most energetic criticism of the Republicans running to replace him. For months, he has mostly kept a studied distance from the fray and resisted invitations to engage in political analysis.

Trump remains the front-runner in South Carolina, where Republican voters head to the polls on Saturday. According to a survey released Monday by Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling, Trump holds a 17-point lead over Rubio and Cruz, who are tied for second place.