Obama Strongly Criticizes 'Refusal' Trump... "We Are Not Above Norms and Laws"

Interview with CBS and BBC on the 15th... Expresses disappointment in the Republican Party supporting Trump
"US more divided than before due to extreme conspiracy theories... Trump fuels the fire"

Former U.S. President Barack Obama (left) and President-elect Joe Biden [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunjin Jeong] Former U.S. President Barack Obama strongly criticized President Donald Trump, who has been issuing messages of refusal day after day, saying, "We are not above norms and laws." He said that President Trump fueled fanatical conspiracy theories and plunged the United States into division, and that Joe Biden's victory is the beginning of correcting this.

On the 15th (local time), former President Obama emphasized the importance of peaceful transfer of power in an interview with CBS, saying, "The concept of an elected official is that they are servants of the people and temporary," and added, "We are not above norms or laws. That is the essence of our democracy."

Former President Obama also expressed disappointment that many Republican lawmakers did not resist President Trump, who continues to spread election fraud conspiracy theories. He said, "(They have) been like that throughout the past four years," and added, "Clearly, during the first two days (when Joe Biden was declared the winner), they did not say anything, so they probably did not think any fraud was taking place."

This appears to point out that when the media reported Joe Biden's victory based on vote counting on the 7th, the Republicans initially did not take a stance but later sided with President Trump.

Regarding the results of this election, in which both President Trump and President-elect Biden received more than 70 million votes, former President Obama said, "It shows that we are still deeply divided," and pointed out that it is not a good sign for democracy.

In an interview with BBC aired the same day, former President Obama also expressed concern that the U.S. is more divided than in the past due to "crazy conspiracy theories." He said, "The United States is very divided, and it is definitely more divided than when I first ran for president in 2007 and was elected in 2008," and criticized President Trump, saying that part of the division is due to the current president who judged that division was politically advantageous and fueled it.

However, former President Obama said, "(Division) existed before President Trump and will continue afterward," and cited "crazy conspiracy theories" and "truth decay" as the biggest factors dividing the United States. Here, truth decay is a concept presented by the U.S. think tank RAND Corporation, referring to the phenomenon where disagreements over fact- and data-based analysis increase, the boundary between fact and opinion becomes blurred, the weight of opinion and personal experience relatively increases, and trust in sources of facts that were respected in the past declines.

Former President Obama said, "The decline of truth, which ignores facts and treats everything as a joke, has contributed enormously to division," and added, "The COVID-19 pandemic is a typical example showing the 'reality backlash.'" He further stated that President-elect Biden's victory will be the beginning of improving this, but argued, "One election is not enough to reverse this trend."

In his recently published memoir, Promised Land, former President Obama also criticized that President Trump stimulated white fears of a Black president and that the hardline conservative faction within the Republican Party brought resentment against people of color and conspiracy theories to the center.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.