Obama slams Trump for his 'shambolic' and 'mean-spirited approach' to governance in rare public rebuke

• Former President Barack Obama blasted President Donald Trump on Tuesday in a rare public rebuke, accusing Trump of dividing the country and employing a "shambolic, disorganized, mean-spirited approach to governance."
• "What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be," Obama said during a fundraiser for Joe Biden.
• Obama condemned Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and how Trump downplayed the threat of COVID-19.
• He said "help is on the way if we do the work," urging Americans to vote for Biden, saying there was no one he trusted more to "heal this country and get it back on track."
• "We can't be complacent or smug or say it's so obvious this president hasn't done a good job," Obama said. "Look. He won once."

Former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump on Tuesday for what he described as Trump's "shambolic, disorganized, mean-spirited approach to governance" and for his approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

Obama was speaking at a virtual grassroots fundraiser with his vice president, Joe Biden, in their first joint appearance for Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Obama formally endorsed Biden back in April following Sen. Bernie Sander's withdrawal from the race.

"What we have seen over the last couple of years is a White House enabled by Republicans in Congress and a media structure that supports them that has not just differed in terms of policy but has gone at the very foundations of who we are and who we should be," Obama said.

He went on to condemn Trump for downplaying the threat of the novel coronavirus.

"That suggests facts don't matter, science doesn't matter, that suggests a deadly disease is fake news," Obama said, adding that he felt bad for "poor Dr. Fauci," the US's top infectious-disease expert, Anthony Fauci, "who's having to testify and then see his advice flouted by the person he's working for."

Obama went on to accuse Trump of promoting division and considering "some Americans in this country more real than others."

"That, we haven't seen out of the White House in a very long time," Obama said.

Later on Tuesday at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Trump mocked Obama for unsuccessfully campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

"I'm only here because of President Obama and the job he did and sleepy Joe Biden and the job that he didn't do," Trump said.

At the fundraiser, Obama said "help is on the way if we do the work," urging Americans to vote for Biden, saying there was no one he trusted more to "heal this country and get it back on track."

"We can't be complacent or smug or say it's so obvious this president hasn't done a good job," Obama said. "Look. He won once."

On the virtual fundraiser, Biden announced that the joint effort between him and Obama brought in $7.6 million from 175,000 donors, making it the campaign's highest-grossing event thus far.

Upon closing the event, Obama addressed Biden, saying, "We need to make you president. Love you, Joe."

"Love you too, pal," Biden replied.