Obama to GOP: Don't blame me for Trump The president lets loose on Republicans who are wildly pointing fingers about the political rise of the brash billionaire.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday had a message for panicking Republicans: Don’t blame me for Donald Trump.

For months, Obama has made veiled references to the GOP frontrunner, slamming him for his rhetoric against immigrants and for preying on Americans anxious about the economy recovery Obama’s administration shepherded.


But on Thursday, standing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a news conference in the Rose Garden, Obama let loose on Republicans. He said accused them of creating the mess that led to the rise of Trump and fiercely disputed the notion that his policies were the catalyst.

“But what I’m not going to do is validate some notion that the Republican crackup that’s been taking place is a consequence of actions that I’ve taken," Obama said.



Obama suggested that "thoughtful conservatives who are troubled by" Trump's success and the direction of their party should look in the mirror.

"I think it is very important for them to reflect on what it is about the politics that they’ve engaged in that allows the circus we’ve been seeing transpire," he said. "And to do some introspection, because ultimately, I want an effective Republican Party. I think this country has to have responsible parties that can govern and that are prepared to lead and govern whether they’re in the minority or the majority, whether they occupy the White House or they do not."

Top GOP strategists who are trying to defeat the billionaire said they mostly agreed that Trump isn’t Obama’s fault, but that the president’s comments are only setting back their efforts.

Rick Wilson, a leader of the #NeverTrump movement, compared Obama to a video game streetfighter. “Achievement level unlocked: trolling level grand master,” Wilson said in an interview, while adding that he’s adding fuel to the dumpster fire.



“He’s going to roil the waters with the Trumpites who are now going to say” – Wilson switched to a whiny nasal tone -- “‘Anyone who’s not with us is with Barack Obama.’”



Rich Beeson, an adviser for Sen. Marco Rubio, whose own stop-Trump campaign has gone down in flames, said Obama can’t fully wash his hands of the political chaos.

“We'll take responsibility for our party, but he has to accept responsibility for our country,” Beeson tweeted.



During his final year in office, Obama has started talking more freely about the sad state of politics, after having lost much of his starry-eyed optimism from seven years ago.

He dedicated a good portion of his most recent State of the Union speech to voter rights, redistricting and campaign finance. And in February he returned to the Illinois State Capitol, the site of his campaign announcement, to call for a healing of the partisan divide.

On Thursday, he was also contemplative.

"And I do all kinds of soul-searching in terms of, are there things I can do better to make sure that I’m unifying the country," he said, while adding, "objectively, it’s fair to say that the Republican political elites and many of the information outlets, social media, news outlets, talk radio, television stations have been feeding the Republican base for the last seven years a notion that everything I do is to be opposed, that cooperation or compromise somehow is a betrayal, that maximalist, absolutist positions on issues are politically advantageous, that there is a them out there and an us, and them are the folks who are causing whatever problems you’re experiencing."

Obama pointed to the controversy that swirled over his birth certificate years ago to make the case that any comparison between his approach and Trump’s is a false equivalency. It was the reality TV star, after all, who brought the conspiracy theory to the national forefront as he flirted years ago with a presidential bid.

"I don’t remember saying, 'Hey, how ‘bout you ask me about that? Why don’t you question whether I’m American, or whether I’m loyal, or whether I have America’s best interests at heart,” Obama said. “Those aren’t things that were prompted by any actions of mine.”

Diagnosing Trump’s rise has become a favorite pastime for a Washington pundit class that was caught badly off guard, and lately, the focus has turned to Obama and Democrats.

On Tuesday, for example, the Beltway lit up over an article by National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar that contended that Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority during Obama’s first term set a precedent for partisan ram-rodding. Thanks to the election of comedian Al Franken as Democrats’ 60th vote in the Senate, Democrats didn’t have to compromise early on, Kraushaar argued, and that “circuitously paved the way for the rise of a much different type of entertainer—Donald J. Trump.”



That’s not Obama’s take on how things evolved since his 2008 election.

The current political climate "within the Republican Party is to some degree, all those efforts over a course of time creating an environment where somebody like a Donald Trump can thrive," Obama said. "He’s just doing more of what has been done for the last seven-and-a-half years."

Wilson on Thursday acknowledged that there’s been an “agonizing reappraisal going on in the conservative movement,” but said Obama’s approach at least set the stage for Trump.

“He does bear some responsibility for creating this climate,” said Wilson, who said Obama “deliberately and consistently attempted to demean, alienate, belittle and marginalize any voices against him.”

But, Wilson continued, “Nothing excuses the degree to which Donald Trump has taken it. Just because X is something bad doesn’t give you license to do something worse.”

Obama’s broadside, however, wasn’t limited to Trump. Republicans running for president do not have such different views as the billionaire on issues like immigration, he added, noting the policy positions of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

“Mr. Trump might just be more provocative in terms of how he says it,” he mused.

Obama actually does need a cohesive Republican Party to achieve one of his top remaining goals. It’s been Democrats, rather than Republicans, who have put up the sharpest resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“I want a serious, effective Republican Party -- in part to challenge some of the blind spots and dogmas in the Democratic Party,” Obama said. “I think that’s useful.”

He then immediately turned to the topic of trade, and though he mentioned neither Trump nor the Democratic candidates, both of whom have come out against the trade pact. Obama said that the United States "cannot put up walls around a global economy and that to sell a bill a goods to the American people and workers that if you just shut down trade somehow, our problems will go away" actually prevents the country from addressing the root issues.

"And certainly, it's not going to be heard if it's coupled with vehement anti-immigrant sentiment that betrays our values," he said.

Obama signaled that he won’t be endorsing in his party’s presidential primary, responding to a direct question by saying, “I think that the Democratic voters are doing just fine working this out.

He added, "My most important role will be to make sure that after primaries are done, is that I'm bringing everyone together so that we focus on winning the general election.”