Trump not qualified to be president, says Obama

VIENTIANE

Outgoing President Barack Obama condemned Donald Trump as unsuitable to be commander-in-chief Thursday, after the Republican nominee blasted US military brass and praised Vladimir Putin.

“I don’t think the guy’s qualified to be president of the United States, and every time he speaks, that opinion is confirmed,” Mr Obama said in unusually caustic language while overseas.

Mr Obama, who was in Laos for a summit with South East Asia leaders and his final trip to east Asia, said that Trump holds contradictory and “outright wacky ideas” and is “uninformed”.

“I can tell you from the interactions I have had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders that this is serious business,” Mr Obama added.

“You actually have to know what you are talking about and you actually have to have done your homework. When you speak, it should actually reflect thought out policy you can implement.”

Trump on Wednesday raised eyebrows by saying that Russia’s president was “far more” of a leader than Obama.

Putin is “very much of a leader,” Trump said in a televised interview.

“It’s a very different system, and I don’t happen to like the system.

But certainly in that system he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.” Trump also drew fire for criticising the military.

“The generals have been reduced to rubble,” Trump said, before noting he had “faith in certain of the commanders”.

The bombastic mogul will face Hillary Clinton in November’s election, which the Democratic former first lady is tipped to win.

Trump has previously angered many in the military community with mocking remarks against US Senator and former prisoner of war John McCain for being captured in Vietnam.

Speaking in Laos about Trump’s unsuitability for office, Obama observed that over the course of the election season “people start thinking behaviour that in normal times we would consider completely unacceptable and outrageous becomes normalised”.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs has barred partners from donating to some US political campaigns, including the Trump-Pence presidential ticket, according to a company memo seen by AFP.

The Trump-Pence campaign was one of several cases listed as prohibited because of 2010 US regulations intended to block donations to state and local officials that could sway the awarding of government investment business, said the memo, which was dated August 29.

The memo barred donations to Trump-Pence because vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, is governor of the state of Indiana.