Rattled by Trump

Obama: World leaders 'rattled' by Trump

By Edward-Isaac Dovere and Nick Gass

World leaders are “rattled” by Donald Trump’s rise, President Barack Obama said here at the G-7 summit, but he remains confident the Republican nominee will lose in November despite the growing turmoil in his own party.

Obama, speaking during a small news conference arranged during a break from meetings with his counterparts from other advanced economies, said the tenor of the 2016 race is still shocking leaders of other top world powers.

“I think it’s fair to say they are surprised by the Republican nominee, they are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements, but they’re rattled by him, and for good reason,” Obama said. “A lot of the proposals that he’s made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude or an interest in getting tweets and headlines instead of actually thinking through what it is that’s required to keep America safe, secure and prosperous, and what’s required to keep the world on an even keel.”

The president appeared to have more specifics to share in private. A reporter overheard snippets of a conversation between Obama and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, with whom he has one of his closer relationships among world leaders, in which he heard the words “Trump,” and then “what his mistake wa s...,” but the reporter was unable to catch the rest.

At the news conference, Obama didn’t go into a detailed critique of Trump, but he said he shares the anxiety of world leaders about a potential Trump presidency.

“Things don’t roll together so well if the United States is not making good decisions,” Obama said.

Responding to those comments on CNN's "New Day," Trump national spokeswoman Katrina Pierson remarked that she understood the leaders are "rattled, because the gravy train ends if Mr. Trump becomes president."

"There are several problems we have inside our country that needs to be addressed," Pierson said. "Meanwhile, we have trade deficits, we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars in defense for countries whose are using that money essentially for socialism.

Obama was much less willing to discuss the dynamics on the Democratic side. He ducked questions about the latest revelations on Hillary Clinton’s email server use and Bernie Sanders’ endorsing the congressional primary opponent of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), saying he’d leave those matters to the two campaigns to address.

Obama has not officially endorsed in the primary, holding off until after the race is settled even if that means waiting until the convention in July, though he has made it abundantly clear at several points that he favors Clinton.

Asked about Democratic unity despite a primary race that is getting more bitter as it gets longer, Obama insisted he had no concern. He blamed the media in part for elevating each moment of “trash talk,” arguing these rarely represented the longer trends of an intraparty fight.

“I would urge and have urged both sides to stick to the issues,” he said.

He later referred to the attacks coming out of the Sanders campaign on Clinton’s unreleased speech transcripts as “the noise,” and said that “during the course of a primary people say what they think might help them get some votes.”

But none of this makes a Trump presidency more likely, Obama said.

Still, “Would it be nice if everyone was immediately unified and singing Kumbaya [so] whoever the nominee is could just take a two-week vacation and recharge?”

Obama admitted that, as much as agree Clinton and Sanders agree on the issues, he finds their drama draining.

“Being criticized by folks in your own party always hurts a little more,” Obama said. “It takes a little energy out of you.”