President Obama issued some scathing criticism of Donald Trump on Friday saying his recent statements regarding nuclear weapons show that the Republican frontrunner doesn’t know much about how the world works. Speaking at the end of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Obama was asked about Trump’s recent suggestion that Japan and South Korea should consider getting their own nukes and his failure to rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe.
“The person who made the statements doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally,” Obama said at a news conference, adding that Trump’s candidacy had been brought up on “the sidelines” of the conference, which didn’t surprise the president.
“I said before that people pay attention to American elections,” Obama said. “What we do is really important to the rest of the world. Even in those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to U.S. elections because they understand the president of the United States needs to know what is going on around the world.”
The president then went on to explain that the U.S. nuclear alliance with Japan and South Korea is “one of the cornerstones of our presence in the Asia Pacific” and has been a success story. “It has prevented the possibilities of a nuclear escalation and conflict,” he added. “You don’t mess with that.”
Obama also refused to say who he voted for in the Democratic primary. “It’s a secret ballot, isn’t it?”
