Obama Warns That U.S. Is Moving ‘Dangerously Close’ To ‘Autocracy’ Under Trump Administration

Former President Barack Obama issued a warning about the rapid descent toward autocracy.

The former president has often avoided providing commentary on President Donald Trump’s decisions in the White House. But, at an event in front of a civic group this week, he opened up in a conversation with Boston College Professor Heather Cox Richardson.

Obama warned the audience that the Trump administration’s behavior “is consistent with autocracies,” adding, “We’re not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalizing behavior like that.”

Obama was not only criticizing the Trump administration but the Republican party at large, “In 2020, one person won the election, and it wasn’t the guy complaining about it. And that’s just a fact, just like my inauguration had more people. I say that, by the way, not because—I don’t care, but facts are important. In one of our major political parties, you have a whole bunch of people who know that’s not true but will pretend like it is, and that is dangerous.”

While Obama delivered this grim message, he still reassured the audience that he has faith in America’s future, even amid the ongoing protests across the country that criticize Trump’s authoritarian-style policies.

“I’m still the ‘hope guy,'” Obama said. “I guess the thing when I’m talking to young people that they need to hear the most is that it is important to be impatient with injustice and cruelty, and there’s a healthy outrage we should be exhibiting in terms of what’s currently happening both here and around the world.”

Despite Obama’s remarks, he was still careful to avoid discussing the possibility of the president involving the U.S. militarily in the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. Obama also did not mention any of the threats that the Democratic party is facing.

Recently, several Democratic officials have been detained by federal agents or threatened with arrest.

Last week, Melissa Hortman, a Democrat official in the Minnesota House, and her husband were assassinated by a man opposed to abortion rights.