Published 12:12 IST, July 31st 2020
Obama takes dig at Trump at John Lewis' funeral, slams 'cops kneeling on black Americans'
At the funeral of Rep John Lewis, Barack Obama not only remembered the life of the civil-rights leader but also lashed out indirectly at Donald Trump.
At the funeral of Rep John Lewis, former US President Barack Obama not only remembered the life of the civil rights leader but also lashed out on US President Donald Trump indirectly. By denoting the current Republican administration as “those in power”, Obama, a Democrat said that the government is “doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting”. From police brutality to Trump recently ‘undermining’ the mail-in voting system for November elections, Obama mentioned an array of issues which according to him is the suppression of the voting rights of Americans.
In Obama’s eulogy for one of the ‘Big Six’ civil rights leaders that included Martin Luther King Jr and, who also helped organise the historic 1963 March on Washington, he called for equal voting rights for all US citizens. At one instance, while delivering his thoughts at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in the city of Atlanta, the former US President said that these issues are essential to be raised as John Lewis spent his time “fighting the very attacks on democracy” and what is best for the United States. However, the powerful people in the country, according to Barack Obama, are "attacking our voting rights with surgical precision” and therefore, called for reform.
Barack Obama said, “But today we witness with our own eyes police officers kneeling on the necks of Black Americans... But we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators.”
“There are those in power are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting, by closing polling locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the runup to an election that is going to be dependent on mailed-in ballots so people don’t get sick,” he added.
Donald Trump calls mail-in voting ‘fraudulent’
Barack Obama singled out the postal voting in his eulogy just after Donald Trump expressed mistrust in that form of voting amid the coronavirus outbreak. With plunging approval ratings before the November elections, US President Donald Trump had called for ‘delaying’ the 2020 presidential elections in the United States citing his concerns with mail-in voting. According to him, this year’s elections, where he competes with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, will be ‘most inaccurate and fraudulent’ one in the history if proceeded with postal voting.
This can further cause the world’s one of the biggest superpower ‘great embarrassment’. Therefore, Donald Trump has suggested that the November elections can be delayed when the Americans can vote ‘securely’ and ‘safely’. However, he then backtracked from his comments and said ‘I don’t want delay’. Trump said, “I want to have the election. But I also don't want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything".
Updated 12:12 IST, July 31st 2020