Obama calls Donald Trump a 'self-declared savior' with a 'pessimistic vision'
President Barack Obama undermined Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as a "self-declared savior" who only fanned people's negativities during day three of Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
The 54-year-old 44th president of the U.S. spoke to the audience and delegates gathered at the Wells Fargo Center and denounced the Republican National Convention held last week in Cleveland, Ohio as not "particularly Republican — and it sure wasn't conservative."
He also took a swipe at the business mogul whom the Republican party formally nominated last week as their presidential bet. Obama charged that Trump did not present any credible solutions to the current issues and undercut Trump's campaign as "just the fanning of resentment, and blame, and anger, and hate."
"What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other, and turn away from the rest of the world," said the outgoing president.
Obama previously expressed his dissenting opinion on Trump for calling on an immigration ban on Muslims. He criticized the policy as not the solution America would want to have nor would it improve the safety of the land.
The president also reduced the Democratic rival as merely a "self-declared savior."
"Our power doesn't come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way," said Obama and added, "We don't look to be ruled."
Obama made his appeal for Hillary Clinton, also America's first woman presidential nominee for a major party, whose election translates to a nod for the current administration's achievements.
The president's Muslim older half-brother, Malik, said he's voting for Trump after "deep disappointments" in his brother's administration, including support for same-sex marriage and the killing of Libyan prime minister Moammar Khadafy, among others.
He also said the billionaire real estate developer appealed to him and that he thought Trump's policy on Muslim immigration ban made sense.
"I'm a Muslim, of course, but you can't have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam," the Kenya-based Obama told Reuters in a phone interview.