President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump shake hands following their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Obama’s private prediction for Trump presidency revealed

Rachel Schilke October 02, 09:34 AMOctober 02, 09:34 AM Video Embed

Just before leaving office, former President Barack Obama told reporters in private remarks he was concerned about a breakdown of democratic norms over a “sustained period” should Donald Trump serve more than one term as president.

Obama gave an off-the-record interview to reporters on Jan. 17, 2021, to discuss several topics, including the election of Trump over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg and released by the Justice Department as part of a Freedom of Information Act request.

After the election, Obama said he was most worried about preserving the democratic process so that if people are dissatisfied with any elected official’s performance, “that dissatisfaction expresses itself.”

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“I think four years is OK,” Obama said. “Take on some water, but we can kind of bail fast enough to be OK. Eight years would be a problem. I would be concerned about a sustained period in which some of these norms have broken down and started to corrode.”

Obama warned reporters that the media were not credible in the public eye and that they needed to “focus” when it came to reporting on Trump.

“I think if you’re jumping after every insult or terrible thing or bit of rudeness that he’s doing and just chasing that, I think there’s a little bit of a three-card Monte there that you have to be careful about,” Obama said. “I think you have to focus on a couple of things that are really important and just stay on them and drive them home.”

He added that he thought the public could sense that Trump becoming president was not good, referencing that his poll numbers entering office were at 37%. Trump left the presidency with a 34% approval rating. He has teased another run in 2024 but has not yet committed to one.

Obama said he thought Republicans were showing “no shame,” a trait he did not believe was duplicated among Democrats.

“I mean, if any of the things that came up here had happened in my administration, the number of Democrats who would have gone south on me and saying, ‘Well, we think this is a problem,’ it would have happened pretty quick,” Obama said.

He said he learned in his presidency that the United States underwrites the world order and that is something both the Left and Right do not fully appreciate.

Obama added that he was worried about the U.S. no longer being active on certain issues, such as climate change, women’s rights, human rights, and LGBT rights, when attending world summits. If that’s the case, he said, the liberal order could be “chipped away,” and the U.S. would take a back seat, similar to Russia and China.

“They [Russia and China] sit back and wait to see what kind of consensus we’re building globally, they see if sometimes they can make sure their equities are protected, but they don’t initiate,” he said. “If we’re not there initiating ourselves, then everybody goes into their own sort of nationalist, mercantilist corners, and it will be a meaner, tougher world, and the prospects that arise will be greater.”

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Obama worried about the potential politicization of several offices, including the FBI. He mentioned how the FBI’s real power could be scary if it says “it wants your stuff, and the Justice Department starts investigating you for long periods of time, even if you have nothing to hide.”

“If there is even a hint of politically motivated investigations, prosecutions, et cetera, I think you guys have to be really on top of that,” Obama said.

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