President Barack Obama rejects Donald Trump’s view of America, arguing that things aren’t so bad under his administration.
“This idea that America is somehow on the verge of collapse, this vision of violence and chaos everywhere, doesn’t really jive with the experience of most people,” he said.
The president assured reporters that most people probably still woke up in an America that wasn’t as frighting as Trump had indicated.
“I hope people the next morning walked outside and birds were chirping and the sun was out, and this afternoon people will be watching their kids play in sports teams, and go to the swimming pool, and folks are going to work and getting ready for the weekend,” Obama said.
He argued that Trump’s fact-checked statistics on crime and immigration were misleading, citing a different set of statistics to support the notion that violent crime and illegal immigration were actually down in the last 20-30 years.
Both crime and illegal immigration, he argued, were lower than under President Ronald Reagan.
He acknowledged that Americans were concerned about the country, particularly after police officers had come under attack.
“We’re all troubled by how we can rebuild trust, support law enforcement and make sure the communities feel that they are being fairly policed,” he said.
Obama told reporters that he did not watch Trump’s speech, but read some of the coverage of the RNC convention in the news.
“I did not watch the convention. I don’t think that’s a surprise,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do and — and they are pretty long events.”