Obama’s awkward call for a broad-scale Trump resistance

Barack Obama delved into domestic politics Tuesday night in a way he rarely does – and the content was pretty remarkable.

Barack Obama delved into domestic politics Tuesday night in a way he rarely does – and the content was pretty remarkable. Speaking to the Connecticut Forum in Hartford, the former president called for institutions, law firms, universities, members of both parties and even Justice Department figures to make “uncomfortable” sacrifices to defend a democracy he argued is increasingly under fire in President Donald Trump’s second term. He suggested, without ever using Trump’s name, that the US was “dangerously close” to a more autocratic government. “What’s happening is that we now have a situation in which all of us are going to be tested in some way, and we are going to have to then decide what our commitments are,” Obama said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by his office. “It will be uncomfortable for a time, but that’s how you know it’s a commitment – because you do it when it’s hard, not just when it’s easy, not just when it’s trendy, not just when it’s cool.” Obama specifically cited how law firms that don’t cow to Trump will have to accept reduced billings — “which means you cannot remodel that kitchen in your house in the Hamptons this summer” — and businesses that resist the administration’s bullying may have to deal with retribution like politically oriented investigations or mergers being held up. He even twice pointed to people who work in Trump’s Justice Department, painting them as a bulwark in upholding the Constitution in the face of the president’s threats.