President Donald Trump is trying to energize his racist base by claiming that he’s running against former President Barack Obama in this year’s election while insisting that he beat him in 2016.
Just a day after Obama delivered a stirring eulogy that drew standing ovations at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral, Trump declared that he won against Obama in 2016 even though Obama was not on the ticket.
In fact, Hillary Clinton was the Democratic nominee and Trump did not even really win against her if one goes by the raw vote totals since he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
Obama won in 2008 and 2012 by wide margins and would have beaten Trump in 2016 had he been able to run for a third term. After all, he had more support from young voters and voters of color than Clinton, and won in battleground states that Clinton lost. An Obama versus Trump contest would have been humiliating for Trump.
But, again, the former president was constitutionally limited to two terms so he could not run again. He did campaign for Clinton, but Trump did not run against Obama.
That’s not stopping him from insisting that he beat Obama in 2016, however.
We beat Obama 4 years ago, he worked harder than Crooked Hillary, and we’ll do it again! https://t.co/oaqnlkr7bW
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2020
And Trump would go on to insist that he’s running against Obama this year as well.
Obama worked harder for Hillary Clinton and the losing Clinton Campaign than she worked for herself! Now he’s working with Sleepy Joe – will be same result. MAGA is energized like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2020
Again, Obama is not on the ballot. Biden is.
Clearly, Trump is trying to energize his racist supporters. And that will likely backfire because Obama is a whole lot more popular than Trump. If Americans equate Biden with Obama, it’s a no-brainer for them to choose Biden when they cast their votes.
The Internet mocked Trump for pretending that he beat Barack Obama.
No, you never beat Obama! You never could and never will. You can’t even hold Obama’s jock strap.
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) August 1, 2020
Didn’t Obama finish his two terms? I’m confused.
— JeremyNewberger (@jeremynewberger) August 1, 2020
I guess which candidate he ran against wasn’t on the cognitive assessment.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 1, 2020
“..and then he forgot who he ran against!” pic.twitter.com/u5Ms5OE1iW
— Santiago Mayer (@santiagomayer_) August 1, 2020
If Obama had been able to run against you in 2016, you would be crying into Tucker Carlson’s bowtie right now.
— Liddle’ Savage (@littledeekay) August 1, 2020
When did you run against Obama? I’m pretty sure it was Hillary Clinton you ran against. Time for another cognitive test.
— Leona Lioness? (@LeonaLioness6) August 1, 2020
You didn’t run against Obama and you lost to Hillary by 3 million votes, but really, can’t you find some new material? You’ve had about 4 years and all you’ve done was fuck up the country, kill people, decimate the economy and make America a laughingstock and global pity.
— Lesley Abravanel? (@lesleyabravanel) August 1, 2020
Remember that time when Trump faced off against Obama 4 years ago?
Me neither.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) August 1, 2020
Trump’s going to have to do a whole lot better to convince Americans to vote for him, because if his new strategy is to claim that he’s running against Barack Obama, Americans are going to bury Trump.
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