President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the presidential debate showed Donald Trump “doesn’t have the preparation, the temperament or the core values of inclusion and making everybody have opportunity that would take our country forward.”
Speaking on “On Air with Ryan Seacrest,” Obama — a frequent critic of the Republican nominee — said he enjoyed watching “what was a pretty vigorous debate about where we need to take our country.”
He said he watched the debate from the Treaty Room in the White House.
Obama told Seacrest his biggest concerns for his daughters’ generation were the spread of nuclear weapons and the risks posed by climate change — two issues where he said Trump falls short.
“I get worried when I hear somebody like Donald Trump start saying, ‘Well, I don’t necessarily know whether Japan or Korea should be protected by us,'” Obama said. “Maybe they should get their own nuclear weapons. That shows somebody who doesn’t pay attention to these issues, and you don’t necessarily want close to the nuclear button.”
On climate change, Obama cited Trump’s tweet proclaiming climate change a hoax perpetrated by China.
“When you hear somebody like Trump say he thinks this is a plot by the Chinese, that this is a fraud and a hoax, when 99% of scientists are saying you’ve got to do something about it, that worries me,” Obama said.