A CNN panel roasted President Donald Trump for boasting that he could “easily” beat Barack Obama in a hypothetical presidential race.
The 80-year-old president made his claim on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast, Straight Shooter. “Yeah, I think I’d beat him easily,” Trump said, adding, “I think he’s highly overrated.”
The panel on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront on Thursday ridiculed Trump for his hubris, with Iraq War veteran and national security commentator Paul Rieckhoff not holding back.
Iraq War veteran and national security commentator Paul Rieckhoff.
“Donald Trump would beat Barack Obama in a Big Mac eating contest,” Rieckhoff quipped. “I mean, I don’t think there’s much else he’d beat him in right now. Definitely not a popularity contest.”
Rieckhoff labeled Obama “maybe the most effective communicator of our time” and, referring to Trump, said, “This is not a fight he’s going to win.”
Trump’s love of fast food—especially McDonald’s—and his unhealthy eating habits have been well chronicled throughout his political career.
According to the 2017 book Let Trump Be Trump, co-authored by Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, “On Trump Force One, there were four major food groups: McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza, and Diet Coke.”
President Donald Trump receives a McDonald’s delivery outside the Oval Office in April.
Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters later described his shock that Trump’s palate had not matured during the 2024 campaign.
Gruters recalled flying with Trump to a campaign event, during which the president devoured French fries, a Quarter Pounder, a Big Mac, and a Filet-O-Fish.
CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons called Trump’s Obama comments “ludicrous.”
Trump with a McDonald’s meal shortly after his election win.
“We almost had a moment during the last campaign where it really was mano a mano Trump versus Obama,” he said, adding that Obama’s criticism appeared to send Trump into “a little bit of a spiral.”
Republican strategist Maura Gillespie accused Trump of attempting to “rewrite history in real time.”
“The midterms themselves was a massive rebuke,” she said.
In the interview with Smith, Trump said that, in his opinion, Obama was not a “good president” and more of a “divider,” while he “brings people together.”
It comes after Trump told Ross Douthat that he cannot forgive his political enemies and admitted, “I do hate some of my enemies, and I always will.”
When Douthat asked on 60 Minutes if Trump could find it in his heart to forgive his enemies—even if it were a condition for entering heaven—Trump maintained that saying he could forgive them “wouldn’t be real.”
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