Hours after Republican nominee Donald Trump slammed President Barack Obama’s national-security record in a candidates’ forum Wednesday night, the president declared — again — that Trump is unfit to serve as commander in chief, and “every time he speaks, that opinion is confirmed.”
“I don’t think the guy’s qualified to be president of the United States,” said the president, speaking at a press conference in Laos on Thursday after the second of two Asian summits.
Obama also urged voters and the media not to let Trump off the hook for his outrageous proposals and sometimes untruthful statements. Observers, he said, “to just listen to what he says and follow up and ask questions about what appear to be either contradictory or uninformed or outright wacky ideas.”
READ: [Clinton Plays Defense, Trump Dodges at Commander-in-Chief Forum]
“There is this process that seems to take place over the course of an election season where somehow behavior that in normal times we would consider completely unacceptable and outrageous becomes normalized,” he said. “But I can tell you from the interactions I’ve had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders that this is serious business and you actually have to know what you’re talking about.”
As president, Obama said, “when you speak, it should actually reflect thought-out policy that you can implement.”
During the “Commander in Chief” forum broadcast Wednesday on NBC, Trump criticized Obama for his national security decisions, condemned his leadership and accused the president of damaging the U.S. military. The celebrity billionaire also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that he would take oil from Iraq and said he had a plan to defeat the Islamic State group, but would not declare what it is or how it would work.
More from U.S. News
Hillary Clinton Plays Defense, Donald Trump Dodges at Commander-in-Chief Forum
Julian Assange Says Donald Trump Should Stay Away From Email
Donald Trump Touts Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton Plays Defense
Barack Obama: Donald Trump Unqualified to be President originally appeared on usnews.com