US President Barack Obama
and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) hold a joint press
conference in the East Room of the White House, August 2, 2016 in
Washington, DC. (AFP photo)
US President Barack Obama has
issued a sharp criticism of Republican presidential nominee Donald
Trump, calling him “unfit” to be president.
Obama made
the comments on Tuesday during a White House news conference with
Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, after Trump criticized an
American Muslim family whose son was killed in Iraq.
Obama also
challenged Republican leaders to withdraw support for Trump for his
criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, who appeared at the Democratic
National Convention (DNC) last week.
During the DNC address, Khizr
Khan denounced Trump as unpatriotic and selfish over his divisive
rhetoric against immigrants and Muslims. Trump
responded, in part, by suggesting that Ghazala Khan, the mother of the
fallen soldier, was silent during her husband’s speech at the DNC
because she was not “allowed” to speak. Ghazala Khan said that she did not intend to speak during the convention because she would get emotional. This
file photo taken on July 28, 2016 shows Khizr Khan holding his personal
copy of the US Constitution while addressing delegates on the fourth
and final day of the Democratic National Convention at Wells Fargo
Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (AFP photo)"The
notion that he would attack a Gold Star family that had made such
extraordinary sacrifices on behalf or our country, the fact that he
doesn't appear to have basic knowledge around critical issues in Europe,
in the Middle East, in Asia means that he's woefully unprepared to do
this job," Obama said of Trump.
Families who lose sons or daughters who serve in the US military are called Gold Star families.
Obama,
who is a Democrat, noted that Republican leaders, including Senate
Republican leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House of
Representatives Paul Ryan, and senator John McCain, a one-time
Republican presidential nominee, have criticized Trump for his remarks
but have stood by their endorsements of him.
"The question I think
that they have to ask themselves is, if you are repeatedly having to
say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are
you still endorsing him?" Obama said.
"What does this say about your party that this is your standard-bearer?" he asked.
Obama has endorsed the Democratic nominee and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
A
Gallup poll released early last month found that Trump and Clinton are
among the worst-rated presidential candidates of the last 70 years.
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