With Donald Trump’s press conference in Helsinki and the backlash from both sides of the aisle that followed still dominating the news flow on Tuesday, Barack Obama delivered a stirring speech to a crowd in South Africa to honor the late Nelson Mandela for the 100th anniversary of his birth.

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As has been his approach since handing over the White House, the former president didn’t mention his successor by name. He didn’t have to, as he warned against “strongman politics” in the “strange and uncertain times that we are in.”

Each day’s news cycle continues to bring more and more “head-spinning and disturbing headlines,” Obama told the crowd.

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Here’s Obama’s take on “alternative facts” and the fuzzy state of truth that has played a huge role in dividing the country:

“ ‘For this to work, we have to actually believe in an objective reality... You have to believe in facts. Without facts, there’s no basis for cooperation. If I say this is a podium and you say this is an elephant, it’s going to be hard for us to cooperate.’ ” — Barack Obama

While striking a hopeful chord for much of his lengthy speech, Obama also warned that “we see much of the world threatening to return to a more dangerous, more brutal, way of doing business.”

He also touched on protectionism, human rights, freedom of the press, racism and many other topics during the course of his nearly 90-minute address in front of some 15,000 attendees in Johannesburg.

But, as one British veteran and political commentator put it, one message, in particular, stood out:

Watch the full speech: