Comedy Central host Trevor Noah asked former President Barack Obama whether he ever “envied” President Donald Trump’s willingness to destroy things in pursuit of his own agenda.
Obama joined Noah on Tuesday’s “The Daily Show,” and the conversation turned to a comparison between the way that Trump handled problems he “inherited” and the way Obama had tried to do the same. (RELATED: Gretchen Whitmer Trolls Trump With ‘That Woman From Michigan’ Shirt)
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“Did you ever— did you ever envy, though, how Trump came in and basically broke sh*t, though? Because he didn’t care,” Noah asked.
“No, I didn’t envy it because I do care. And I do not think that is an option to simply pretend that the legacy of problems or issues that you inherit are somehow things you can just brush aside,” Obama replied, saying that he had struggled with Trump’s willingness to undo the things he had worked hard to implement. (RELATED: ‘You Have To Be Clearer’: Joy Behar Challenges Sunny Hostin Over ‘Defund The Police’ Narrative)
“That’s probably the area where I wrestled with this most,” Obama continued, adding, “My obligation first and foremost in the United States was to make sure people didn’t get hurt. That’s sort of the bare minimum that you expect out of a nation state that you’re living in is that you can defend against harm.”
Obama went on to detail just how difficult it was to deal with terrorist organizations because they were not official representatives of — or even necessarily supported by — the societies or nations of which they were a part.
“And there were organizations that if they could blow up the New York subway system, they would, if they could get their hands on a biological weapon, they would use it,” he explained. “You then are wrestling with how do I protect the American people from those actors, but do it in a way that is morally and ethically justified?”