Barack Obama used the pulpit at Jesse Jackson's funeral in Chicago on Friday to deliver one of his sharpest public rebukes of Donald Trump's presidency, all without ever saying Trump's name or directly referencing his administration. The former president warned that "every day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions," citing threats to the rule of law, "offense to common decency," and leaders who urge Americans "to fear each other, and to turn on each other," per the Hill. "We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope," he said. "Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated and bullying and [mockery] masquerading as strength."
Obama also made clear that he's not interested in a return to the Oval Office for a third term, which is currently not allowable by law, per Newsweek. When someone in the audience at the funeral yelled out that Obama should consider "four more years," Obama replied, "Nah, see, I believe in the Constitution." Trump has previously suggested he would "love" to serve for a third term, even though there's no way at the moment to legally do so.
The service for Jackson, the 84-year-old civil rights leader and former presidential candidate who died last month, drew a lineup of Democratic heavyweights, including Obama, former presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, and former VP Kamala Harris, along with Rev. Al Sharpton and other prominent progressives, per the Guardian. Obama praised Jackson as someone who pushed the country toward "a harder path" and urged Americans to be "messengers of hope," per the Hill. Biden followed with a shorter critique of the Trump administration's values, saying Jackson "knew who we were at our best." Clinton avoided any Trump references, focusing on Jackson's legacy, while Trump, who didn't attend, called Jackson "a force of nature" in a Truth Social post that also took a swipe at Obama.
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