President Obama reassured some of his biggest Hollywood supporters that Donald Trump would not be his presidential successor.
“I recognize that there is a deep obsession right now about Mr. Trump,” he said last night. “And one of you pulled me aside and squeezed me hard and said, ‘Tell me that Mr. Trump is not succeeding you’ — And I said, ‘Mr. Trump is not succeeding me.’”
Obama made his remarks during a Hollywood mega-fundraiser for Democrats who paid up to $66,800 per couple to attend.
According to Deadline, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts. J.J. Abrams and wife Katie McGrath, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Norman Lear and Lyn Lear, Barbra Streisand and James Brolin all attended the fundraiser.
But Obama couldn’t resist a little bit of trolling of both Ted Cruz and Trump for voicing the more controversial ideas in the Republican party.
“Mr. Trump has actually done a service, as Mr. Cruz is doing a service,and that is laying bare unvarnished some of the nonsense that we’ve been dealing with in Congress on a daily basis,” he said.
He alluded to the Republican majority that swept into power in the House of Representatives fueled by angry Tea Party conservatives.
“People act as if these folks are outliers. But they’re not,” he argued. “Listen to talk radio, watch their interviews. Look at how they operate in town halls. They’re saying stuff that’s just as wacky as what we’re hearing out of the presidential candidates. It’s just nobody was paying attention.”
Thanks to Cruz and Trump, he suggested, the entire country knew that the Republican party was unfit to lead the country forward.
“We should thank Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz for just being honest,” he said. “This is how we’re thinking these days — we’re not thinking these days.“