One of Donald Trump’s constant targets during his presidency and even as he prepares to leave the White House is his predecessor Barack Obama. The former president blasted Trump for his administration’s attempts to undo the policies made under the previous administration.
Obama has become one of Trump’s outspoken critics in the past several months leading up to the elections. In an interview with New York magazine, the former president shared that he is aware of the Trump administration’s attempts to challenge policies made under his eight-year tenure as president. The most notable contention was the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” when Trump tried to repeal the policy which was unsuccessful due to the deciding vote cast by the late Republican Senator John McCain. Trump has also accused Obama and then-vice president Joe Biden of treason and of spying on his campaign back in 2016.
The former president also criticized Trump for undermining his administration’s climate change policies. Trump has also withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Accords in 2017 citing that the agreement was not going to benefit the United States. The move, Obama describes, was where the “damage” was done. Biden has since pledged that the US would rejoin the climate agreement as one of his first acts as president in 2021.
“I think that with Joe and Kamala coming in, the ability to pick up where we left off and keep going remains,” said Obama. “And in some cases, there are some things that are going to be harder to undo. Even on climate change, every year you lose is a problem.”
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration gave the green light in distributing the Pfizer-made COVID-19 vaccine to Americans with the first vaccinations administered this week. Obama, along with his predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have all previously agreed to be vaccinated and for their vaccinations to be filmed in order to instill confidence in the vaccine that would be released to the public. Bush’s chief of staff Freddy Ford revealed that the former president reached out to infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and White House Coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx to see how he can help in promoting the vaccine to the public.
Clinton’s press secretary has also confirmed that the former president would also be willing to get a vaccine as soon as it is made available.