President Obama took aim at Donald Trump on Sunday as he decried “anti-intellectualism” in American politics, poked fun at the mogul’s call to “Make America Great Again” and declared that “ignorance is not a virtue” during a blistering commencement address at Rutgers University.
Obama didn’t name any of the presidential candidates — and he didn’t have to — as he made it clear he was not keen on seeing the billionaire tycoon succeed him at the White House.
“The world is more interconnected than ever before, and it’s becoming more connected every day. Building walls won’t change that,” said Obama, drawing raucous applause from 50,000 people at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, as he alluded to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s call to build along the US-Mexico border.
“As president my first responsibility is always the security and prosperity of the United States and as citizens we all rightly put our country first,” Obama said. “But if the past two decades taught us anything, it’s that the biggest challenges we face can’t be solved in isolation.”
He took on Trump’s “Great” call by saying there was no better time to be an American or a citizen of planet Earth.
“When you hear someone longing for the good old days, take it with a grain of salt,” Obama said to applause.
And he told the crowd that the current political discourse has now devolved into shouting matches with no substance.
“In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” Obama said. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about.”
Obama, drawing laughs, continued: “That’s not keeping it real or telling it like it is, that’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.”
And he took pointed issue with the sudden embrace of political amateurs like Trump.
“If you are listening to today’s political debate you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from,” Obama said. “The rejection of reason, the rejection of facts; that is the path to decline.”
Meanwhile, Trump on Sunday stayed mostly out of view, attending his daughter Tiffany’s graduation at the University of Pennsylvania.
But Trump was abuzz with activity on Twitter, defending himself against a New York Times report that he has mistreated and humiliated scores of women throughout his adult life.
“The media is really on a witch hunt against me. False reporting, and plenty of it – but we will prevail!” he tweeted.
Also on Sunday, RNC chairman Reince Priebus said voters “don’t care” about Trump’s ongoing struggles with female voters, his refusal to release tax returns and allegations of lying to journalists in the 1990s.