President Donald Trump has claimed he “fell asleep” watching former President Barack Obama‘s scathing critique of the president and his party.

Mr Obama did not mince words in his address at the University of Illinois on Friday, claiming Mr Trump and Republicans in Congress were part of a “backlash to progress” taking place in America.

“It did not start with Donald Trump – he is a symptom, not the cause. He is just capitalising on resentment that politicians have fanning for years,” Mr Obama said, in an address designed to mobilise young voters for the upcoming midterm elections.

It was the first time the former president had criticised Mr Trump by name since the 2016 election, and his comments generated backlash from across the aisle. But Mr Trump played down the remarks, telling attendees at a fundraising event that he had tried to watch the speech but could not get through it all.

“I think [Mr Obama] is trying to take credit for this incredible thing that’s happening to our country,” he added, referring to recent increases in the employment rate.

Barack Obama calls Donald Trump 'the symptom, not the cause'

Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans were more critical, with Representative Mark Meadows calling the speech “an eloquent reminder of why Americans made the right choice when they elected President Trump”.

“The more President Barack Obama speaks about the ‘good ole years’ of his presidency, the more likely President Donald Trump is to get re-elected,” tweeted Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. “In fact, the best explanation of President Trump’s victory are the ‘results’ of the Obama Presidency!”

The address was much more positively received by Democrats, who seemed thrilled to have the former president back in the ring. Joe Biden, who previously served as Mr Obama’s vice president, called the speech inspiring.

“A powerful reminder that it’s on all of us to vote this fall if we want leaders who reflect the civility, character, dignity, and goodness of the American people,” Mr Biden tweeted. ”The stakes couldn’t be higher, but Americans always rise to the occasion.”

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Still others pointed out the contrast between Mr Obama’s speech on Friday morning and Mr Trump’s conversation with reporters aboard Air Force One at around the same time.

Among other things, Mr Trump told reporters he wanted the Justice Department to launch an investigation into which senior official had penned an anonymous New York Times editorial claiming to be part of an “internal resistance” to his presidency. Mr Trump also said he was looking into taking action against the Times, which he had earlier lambasted as “phoney” and “failing”.

It was unclear what action the president wanted taken against the author or the Times, as neither appeared to have broken any laws.

Mr Obama touched briefly on the issue of the op-ed in his speech, but focused primarily on the larger issue of Mr Trump’s attacks on the press.

“I complained plenty about Fox News, but you never heard me threaten to shut them down or call them enemies of the people,” Mr Obama said.