Former President Barack Obama took the gloves off, finally firing back at President Donald Trump over both Trump’s decision to pull out of a nuclear agreement with Iran during his first term and for taking the U.S. into a chaotic and unapproved war against the Islamic Republic over the very thing the original agreement accomplished.
In a May 5 interview with late night TV host Stephen Colbert that aired on Wednesday, May 13, on “The Late Show,” which is ending it’s long run next week, the popular former president threw some very subtle shade at Trump questioning his decision to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that Obama helped negotiate “without firing a missile,” and a not so subtle jab there at Trump’s ongoing war against Iran.
Obama Rarely Criticizes Trump Publicly
It’s extremely rare, for Obama the first Black president of the United States, to comment on or criticize Trump, who spent all of Obama’s two terms in office, spreading conspiracy theories and lies about him and former first lady Michelle Obama.
But the Democrat did “go low” as supporters cheered his decision to finally speak out. The “go low” reference harkens back to former first lady Michelle Obama’s famous speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 when she told voters, “When they go low, we go high” with supporters saying it’s high time Obama went low.
“We went about trying to negotiate a diplomatic agreement that would get the enriched uranium out of Iran, that would assure that they could not get to a nuclear weapon without us knowing about it.” Obama explained.
“That it was internationally agreed upon and that there were mechanisms in place to enforce it and verify it, and we pulled it off without firing a missile. We got 97 percent of their enriched uranium out,” he continued before pointing out, “We didn’t have to kill a whole bunch of people or shut down the Strait of Hormuz.”
Obama Defends 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal
Thirty percent of the global oil supply passes through the Strait everyday or at least it did before Trump started what critics have called a visionless and dangerous war, lacking a clear strategic objective and coherent endgame.
Colbert pushed back on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, pointing out, “Now well there was some dispute that it didn’t work well.”
“They didn’t believe that it didn’t work. He just said it didn’t work,” Obama countered.
“Worst, worst deal of all,” Colbert interjected.
“Yeah, because I did it, which is fine, that seems to be a pattern,” Obama stated as Colbert chuckled.
“But there was no serious independent folks who would say that it didn’t work with respect to the nuclear program,” Obama continued, stating the facts.
“Now, if your agenda was to bring about regime change in Iran, well, that wasn’t the goal of the agreement,” he noted, which is one of the first reasons Trump gave for the surprise attack on Iran on Feb. 28, without congressional authorization or any help from U.S. allies, except for Israel.
In the first weeks after Trump launched his military campaign against Tehran, he never mentioned a nuclear goal, most likely because he spent most of last year bragging that he had wiped out the country’s nuclear capabilities during a 12-day military campaign last June, which turned out be false.
Obama made several more points about the 2015 agreement.
“If your goal was to dismantle the Iranian military so that it couldn’t cause any other problems in the region, then it didn’t do that. But that wasn’t the goal, right? So, part of this balance between military force and diplomacy is based on, what are your objectives? What are your goals?” he said.
Trump and Defense chief Pete Hegseth spent the first month of their war offering shifting messages and mixed objectives finally landing on dismantling Iran’s nuclear program as the main objective by late March.
Social Media Reacts to Obama’s Comments About Trump
Social media exploded in glee over Obama finally addressing what opponent’s call Trump’s lies about not only the war but about his hatred of Obama.
“Trump’s whole mission in life is to undo Obama’s legacy and failing miserably, the harder Trump tries, the more people love Obama,” a Threads user observed.
Others agreed, “Yea he can’t stand on going with what a black man achieved.”
This poster didn’t mince words.
“Trump hates Obama only reason you at war with iran. The plan was working and trump can’t have that. He needed to destroy it.”
Another chimed in, “Soooo True! Insecurity and known inferiority animate almost all Of this pumpkin POTUS’s actions.”
