'They're interested in power:' Obama tears into Republicans for kicking millions of people off their health insurance and denying the science behind pandemics
- Obama had some of his harshest criticism yet for Republicans and Trump during his endorsement video of Biden on Monday.
- The former president said Republicans were only "interested in power."
- "They've shown themselves to be willing to kick off millions off their health insurance and eliminate preexisting condition protections for millions more, even in the middle of this public health crisis," Obama said.
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Former President Obama had some particularly stinging words for Republicans in his 12-minute video endorsement of his former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
In addition to throwing his support behind Biden, Obama tried to offer consolation to a nation battling the coronavirus pandemic.
It later culminated into some of Obama's most direct criticism of President Trump and Republicans - without ever naming his successor.
"One thing everybody has learned by now is that the Republicans occupying the White House and running the US Senate are not interested in progress. They're interested in power," Obama said.
He went on: "They've shown themselves to be willing to kick off millions off their health insurance and eliminate preexisting condition protections for millions more, even in the middle of this public health crisis, even as they're willing to spend a trillion dollars on tax cuts on the wealthy."
Obama further blasted the GOP for undercutting the science behind global warming and pandemics.
"They've given polluters unlimited power to poison our air and water, and denied the science of climate change just as they denied the science of pandemics."
He also took aim at the Republican Party's efforts to chip away at critical elements of American democracy.
"Repeatedly, they've disregarded American principles of rule of law, and voting rights, and transparency - basic norms that previous administrations observed regardless of party."
Obama warned that Republicans have "a massive war chest" at their disposal, in addition to a "propaganda network with little regard for the truth," a thinly veiled reference to Trump-friendly Fox News.
Still, he said he believed the pandemic had the power to compel people to reevaluate their long-held beliefs.
"This crisis has reminded us that government matters. It's reminded us that good government matters. That facts and science matter," Obama said. "That the rule of law matters. That having leaders who are informed, and honest, and seek to bring people together rather than drive them apart - those kinds of leaders matter."
The general election could end up becoming a referendum on Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 580,000 Americans and killed more than 23,000 so far. The White House had received warnings of the outbreak several weeks before it acted.
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