Obama Ridicules Christians Who Say They Forgive Donald Trump

US President Barack Obama speaks during a Hillary for America campaign event in Greensboro
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama ridiculed Republicans — particularly Christians — who said they forgave Donald Trump after a 2005 video was leaked featuring him making lewd comments about women.

“I hear people saying, ‘I’m a Christian and so I’m all about forgiveness because nobody’s perfect,’” Obama said, adding that he himself was a Christian who believed in redemption for people who made mistakes.

“If someone does something terrible … I can forgive ‘em, I suppose, if they’re sincere about it, but I don’t want them necessarily leading the country,” he said.

Obama said that it was impossible for both Christians and Republicans to continue to denounce Trump’s comments but to still support him for president.

“You can’t have it both ways here,” he said. “You can’t repeatedly denounce what is said by someone and then say, ‘But I’m still going to endorse them to be the most powerful person in the planet and to put them in charge.'”

He ridiculed Republicans for suddenly running away from Trump after standing by him despite offensive comments.

“We saw this coming, he’s been saying really bad things for a while now. What did you think? He’s just going to transform himself?” Obama asked. “I mean, I’m 55, I know it’s hard for me to change, I know at 70 it’s going to be harder.”

Obama said that Trump’s comments about women were unacceptable, adding that someone who acted like that couldn’t get hired at a 7/11, let alone become president of the United States.

“You don’t have to be a husband or father to say, ‘That’s not right.’ You just have to be a decent human being,” he said.

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