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Obama Criticizes Rise of “Strongman Politics” in a Thinly Veiled Criticism of Trump

HeadlineJul 18, 2018

In rare public comments, former President Barack Obama issued a thinly veiled criticism of President Trump, denouncing the rise of “strongman politics,” while Obama was speaking in Johannesburg, South Africa, at an event marking the centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth.

Barack Obama: “I am not being alarmist, I am simply stating the facts. Look around. Strongman politics are ascendant suddenly, whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it, but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.”

That was former U.S. President Barack Obama speaking at the centennial commemoration of the birth of Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years in apartheid South Africa before being released and becoming South Africa’s first black president. He would have turned 100 years old today. We’ll have more on Mandela’s life later in the broadcast with Rev. Jesse Jackson.

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