Obama to Trump: 'Stop whining'

President Barack Obama has a blunt message for Donald Trump: “Stop whining.”

Speaking alongside Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in the Rose Garden, Obama dismissed Trump's incessant talk of a rigged election as a whimper coming out of a campaign that treats this election like a joke.


“There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America’s elections, in part because they’re so decentralized and the numbers of votes involved,” Obama said.

“There’s no evidence that that has happened in the past or that there are instances in which that will happen this time,” he continued. “And so, I ‘d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes.”

Trump as recently as Tuesday morning maintained that the election is rigged, even attacking Republicans during an interview with conservative radio host Mike Gallagher for breaking with him on his baseless claims.

“One of the great things about America’s democracy,” Obama said, is that the U.S. holds “a vigorous, sometimes bitter, political contest” in which the loser congratulates the winner.

“That’s how democracy survives. Because we recognize that there’s something more important than any individual campaign, and that is making sure that the integrity and trust in our institutions sustains itself because democracy, by definition, works by consent, not by force,” he said. “I have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place.”

Obama called such a move an “unprecedented” claim that “happens to be based on no facts.” He noted that election experts of all stripes have said “that instances of significant voter fraud are not to be found.”

The president pointed to Florida, where Republican Rick Scott, a Trump supporter, is governor. “The notion that somehow if Mr. Trump loses Florida it’s because of ‘those people that you have to watch out for,’ that is both irresponsible and, by the way, doesn’t really show the kind of leadership and toughness that you’d want out of a president.”

“If you start whining before the game’s even over, if whenever things are going badly for you and you lose, you start blaming somebody else, then you don’t have what it takes to be in this job,” Obama said. “Because there are a lot of times when things don’t go our way — or my way. That’s OK. You fight through it. You work through it. You try to accomplish your goals.”

Obama said he believes if Hillary Clinton were to lose in November, he’d expect his former secretary of state to concede and vow to work with President Trump to ensure Americans benefit from an effective government.

“If he got the most votes then it would be my expectation of Hillary Clinton to offer a gracious concession speech and pledge to work with him in order to make sure that the American people benefit from an effective government,” he said. “And it would be my job to welcome Mr. Trump, regardless of what he’s said about me or my differences with him on my opinions, and escort him over to the Capitol, in which there would be a peaceful transfer of power. That’s what Americans do. That’s why America’s already great.”