Former President Barack Obama is back to throwing criticism towards the Republican Party, recently claiming the GOP has adopted a "big business" attitude.
During a Thursday appearance on David Axelrod's Axe Files podcast, Obama accused the GOP of fueling "anger" and "resentment" from its supporters, claiming the party is struggling because they have embraced an "elitist economic agenda."
"We've developed, what we've seen is a Republican Party that has embraced a cultural populism, the kind of populism that we talked about earlier: resentment, anger, you know, exploiting people's sense that things are rigged," Obama said.
The former president added that he would like to see a "working-class version" of the Republican Party but, according to him, the GOP compares to a "country club."
"But what you don't see is the Republican Party embracing ... they still have very much an elitist economic agenda, with a cultural overlay," Obama continued.
According to the former president, no "smart" Republican has entered the 2024 race, claiming that the U.S. economy needs to be addressed despite failing to mention that his pal, President Joe Biden, is the leading cause of the devastating economic reality Americans now face.
"I think there's an opening for a smart Republican out there to talk about economic issues and say, 'You know what, I wouldn't mind the people who are doing really well paying a little bit higher in taxes,'" Obama said. "'I may not want to spend it the same way Democrats do. I may have different theories about what's going to give working folks more of a chance.'"
Obama also criticized 2024 presidential GOP candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who praised his party for doing a "fabulous job of making progress" on race. The former president accused Scott of merely repeating partisan rhetoric while insisting that "deep inequality that still exists" between races and said Republicans should stop telling Americans that equal opportunity exists.
This was not Obama's first attempt to attack the populist wing of the Republican Party. Last year, he accused the GOP of being more "interested in making you angry" than tackling issues within the country.
The progressive former president claims that Republicans like to distract Americans, according to Obama, because they don't have any real solutions, even though his former VP Biden is still hovering near all-time low approval ratings, Americans — especially independents — have soured on his handling of the economy, and it seems the White House will do anything to avoid attention on Biden's failing policies.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member