Obama says Trump ‘woefully unprepared’ to be president

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

In his most forceful denunciation of Donald Trump yet, President Barack Obama said Tuesday the Republican candidate is “woefully unprepared” to hold the Oval Office.

Speaking during a joint press conference with Singaporean Premier Lee Hsien Loong, Obama urged Republicans to halt support for their nominee following successive controversies that have prompted leading Republicans to distance themselves from Trump’s incendiary statements.

“There has to be a point in which you say this is not somebody I can support for President of the United States, even if he purports to be a member of my party,” Obama said.

He added that while he may have had policy disagreements with his Republican challengers in the 2008 and 2012 presidential races, if he lost to either Sen. John McCain or Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, “I would have been disappointed but I would have said to all Americans this is our president and I know they're going to abide by certain norms and rules and common sense, will observe basic decency.

“But that's not the situation here, and that's not just my opinion,” he said.

Obama’s comments come amid a row between the family of a slain Muslim-American Army Capt. and Trump that continues to simmer.

Khizr and Ghazala Khan took to the Democratic National Convention last week to reject Trump’s proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. Khizr Khan famously held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution during his fiery speech, offering it to Trump for reference and saying that the billionaire has “sacrificed nothing and no one”.

Khan’s son, Humayun, died while fighting in Iraq.

In response, Trump criticized Ghazala Khan, suggesting that she wasn’t allowed to speak because she is a Muslim woman – a charge she has sharply rejected.

It’s the latest in a string of similar episodes where Trump has made statements against minority groups that many consider to be inflammatory.

Veteran Republican Sen. John McCain issued an unusually lengthy statement against Trump on Monday in which he said that he could not “emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement.

“I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates,” he said.

McCain was among a host of Republican leaders who distanced themselves from Trump, but stopped short of rescinding their endorsements of the Republican candidate.

Obama said the fact that the denunciations weren’t met with action makes them “ring hollow.

“I don't doubt their sincerity,” said Obama. “But there has to come a point at which you say somebody who makes those kinds of statements doesn't have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding, to occupy the most powerful position in the world.”