Donald Trump may be the Republican frontrunner in the U.S. presidential race but Barack Obama says the business mogul won’t be replacing him as the next president of the United States.
“I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president,” Obama told reporters in California Tuesday. “And the reason is because I have a lot of faith in the American people.”
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Obama said he thinks his countrymen will recognize the importance of putting someone into the Oval Office that will take the job seriously.
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“I think they recognize that being president is a serious job,” Obama said.
“It’s not hosting a talk show or a reality show, it’s not promotion, it’s not marketing; it’s hard and a lot of people count on us getting it right.”
Obama said that many of the outrageous claims that have been made during the primaries have made for good TV but as the actual election inches closer, voters will realize the importance of the president’s job.
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“(Americans) are going to say, ‘whoever’s standing where I’m standing right now has the nuclear codes with them, and can order 21-year-olds into a firefight, and have to make sure that the banking system doesn’t collapse, and is often responsible for not just the United States of America, but 20 other countries that are having big problems or are falling apart and are gonna be looking for us to do something’.”
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“And the American people are pretty sensible, and I think they’ll make the sensible choice in the end.”
Obama was speaking after meeting with 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. He said foreign officials are troubled by some of the comments Republican presidential candidates have made.
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“I think foreign observers are troubled by some of the rhetoric that’s been taking place in these Republican primaries and Republican debates,” Obama said. “I don’t think it’s restricted, by the way, to Mr. Trump.”
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He went on to say the other candidates are voicing similar opinions but are causing similar concern.
“(Trump) may up the ante in anti-Muslim sentiment, but if you look at what the other Republican candidates have said, that’s pretty troubling, too,” he said. “(Trump) may express strong anti-immigration sentiment, but you’ve heard that from the other candidates as well. You – you’ve got a candidate who sponsored a bill that I supported, to finally solve the immigration problem, and he’s running away from it as fast as he can.”
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