President Obama has made it clear to voters: If you don't want Donald Trump as president, choose Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton instead.
"If you don't vote, that's a vote for Trump," Obama stressed in a new line of attack during a radio interview with Steve Harvey that aired Wednesday morning. "If you vote for a third-party candidate who's got no chance to win, that's a vote for Trump."
The president conducted the interview via telephone on Tuesday, reacting to the first presidential debate and urging listeners to register to vote.
"People just do not give [Clinton] credit, and part of it, maybe, is because she's a woman and we have not elected a woman president before," Obama said. "But here's somebody who, as I said at the convention, is as qualified as anybody who has ever run for this office, and she's been on the right side of the issues that we care about, and we need to support her, and that begins by making sure that everybody is registered and everybody is voting. The stakes in this election is so high."
The president criticized Trump's performance during Monday's debate, noting the moments when Trump crowed about not paying federal taxes and capitalizing on the housing crisis.
"You know, for someone who wants to be president of the United States, and you're not thinking about the hardship of foreclosures and people losing their homes and being out on the streets, that your only focus is, 'How can I make a buck off it?' Yeah, that's not the kind of person that I think we want representing us in the Oval Office," Obama remarked.
In the interview he also denounced Trump's treatment of women.
"You had somebody who basically insulted women and then doubled down ... in terms of how he talks about them and talks about their weight and talks about, you know, how they look instead of the content of their character and capabilities, which is not something that I want, not somebody I want in the Oval Office that my daughters are listening to and that sons are listening to," Obama said. "And so, across the board, you know, you've got somebody who appears to only care about himself."
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