On Tuesday, President Obama heavily criticized the Trump as well as his Republican supporters who are choosing to vote for him. The rebuke came as a response to Trump’s feud with the parents of the fallen Muslim soldier, Capt. Humayun Khan, as well as his dubious ability to perform as Commander in Chief.
Last week Khan’s father spoke at the Democratic National Convention, questioning Trump’s qualifications to run for presidency. Afterwards, Trump took to Twitter, tweeting “This story is not about Mr. Khan, who is all over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and the U.S. Get smart!” and “Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!” This retaliation demonstrated Trump’s characteristic refusal to back out of an argument, making him appear worse in the public eye.
In addition, Trump said in an interview that he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not going into Ukraine”, despite the fact that he has already done just that, with the seizing of Crimea. When the interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, asked, “Well, he’s already there, isn’t he?”, Trump quickly shifted the blame onto Obama. “OK, well he’s there in a certain way. But I’m not there. . . frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama with all the strength that you're talking about and all of the power of NATO and all of this.” As per usual, he later went on Twitter to clarify what he had meant: “When I said in an interview that Putin is 'not going into Ukraine, you can mark it down,' I am saying if I am President. Already in Crimea!” As a sort of side note, he added that those in Crimea would probably be happier in Russia than where they previously were, an argument that Putin himself has used to justify his action.
At a White House news conference, Obama said, “The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. He keeps on proving it.” He then placed the responsibility of Trump’s out-of-hand statements on the Republican party. “There has to come a point in 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.'”
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s response was to attack the President. He later said in an interview, “ [Obama] is a terrible president. He'll probably go down as the worst president in the history of our country. He's been a total disaster.”
Despite the severity of Trump’s responses, there is little indication that they will do much harm to his polls. For the time being, Hillary Clinton is leading Trump 53% to 43%. Whether these numbers will stay that way is uncertain, but with less than 100 days until Election Day, many Americans are at the edge of their seats in suspense and curiosity as to what that day will entail.