Barack Obama sat down for a lengthy interview with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night, and the former president clearly had some things to say about the state of America after four years of Donald Trump. While Colbert wanted to steer clear of the current occupant of the White House, stating that he was tired of talking about him after so long, Obama often brought up Trump to hold him to the fire for his failed pandemic response, which he says isn’t “rocket science.” All Trump had to do is listen to the experts and he could’ve weathered the storm that most likely ended his presidency, but Obama notes that there’s now a conspiratorial strain through the Republican Party that has him deeply concerned for America.
Via The Daily Beast:
Asked by the host if he was surprised that Republicans didn’t see the “political advantage” of acting like they “cared,” Obama said, “I think that that is a measure of how detached from reality and how embedded ideological and conspiratorial thinking has become, where you’re doing it even when it’s to your disadvantage.”
Demonstrating a surprising historical knowledge of Colbert’s career, he added, “In your original show, right, you’re satirizing a certain attitude, but you never thought that folks would actually start believing it.”
Obama also revealed that he had deep concerns when he first met Trump in the White House after he surprisingly won the 2016 election, and the damage that Trump caused “exceeded” anything Obama could’ve imagined.
You can watch the full interview below: