Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama issued a statement in the wake of this weekend’s domestic terror mass shootings that took the lives of now 31 people. Their words are a rare and thinly-veiled swipe at President Donald Trump.
“We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments,” the Obamas say in their statement, clearly launching an attack against President Trump. They added, “leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people.”
“Such language isn’t new,” they continue, “it’s been at the root of most human tragedy throughout history, here in America and around the world.”
Read their full statement:
Image: “President Barack Obama pauses during a meeting to observe a moment of silence in the Oval Office at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 21, 2012, in remembrance of the 20 children and six adults killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14.”
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza via Flickr