Obama On Anti-Trump Protesters: ‘I Wouldn’t Advise Them To Be Silent’
"One of the great things about our democracy ..."
At a press conference Thursday in Germany, President Barack Obama was asked if he would ask protesters in the United States to stop demonstrating against the election of Donald Trump as the next president.
“One of the great things about our democracy is that it expresses itself in all sorts of ways. And that includes people protesting,” Obama replied.
“I’ve been the subject of protests during the course of my eight years, and I suspect that there’s not a president in our history that at some point hasn’t been subject to these protests,” he said. “So I would not advise people who feel strongly or are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of the campaign; I wouldn’t advise them to be silent.”
While not telling the protesters to be silent, Obama sent a message to those protesters who didn’t bother to vote in last week’s election, as well as those Trump supporters who he does not believe made the correct choice.
“What I would advise, what I advised before the election, and what I will continue to advise after the election is that — elections matter, voting matters, organizing matters, being informed on the issues matters,”
The president traveled to Germany to meet with the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, to talk about Germany and America’s relationship as well as future prospects under Trump.
He urged not just America but Germany and other European and advanced countries to “not take for granted our systems of government and our way of life.”
He then hinted at the election results and the reports that high numbers of American citizens didn’t cast a vote in the recent election, as well as hinting at some of Trump’s strong words against people of various races, and insults of his competitors especially during the primaries.
“Democracy is hard work,” he said. “In the United States if 43 percent of eligible voters do not vote, then democracy is weakened.”
He also warned against a wave of digital media outlets that purport to be news sites but, in reality, stoke political emotions without relying on facts.
“In an age of social media where so many people are getting their information in sound bites and snippets off their phones, if we can’t discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems,” Obama said. “If people, whether they’re conservative, liberal, left or right, are unwilling to compromise and engage in the democratic process and are taking absolutist views and demonizing opponents, then democracy will break down.”
Obama said protesting is not the problem, but the lack of political debate that takes place in the times in between elections.
“So i think my most important advice is to understand what are the foundations of a healthy democracy and how we have to engage in citizenship continuously,” Obama said. “Not just when something upsets us, not just when there’s an election, or when an issue pops up for a few weeks.”
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