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As Democrats continue to assess their path forward after 2024 election losses, Barack Obama shared some tough love for his party during a private fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday.
The 44th president called on Democrats to “toughen up” as they push back on President Donald Trump’s agenda and fight for the values they believe the country should represent.
“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions,” Obama said, “and it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up.”
The Democrat said he is not “surprised by what Trump’s done” nor by the lack of “guardrails within the Republican Party.”
“What I have been surprised by is the degree to which I’ve seen people who, when I was president ... stood for all kinds of stuff, who seem like they’re kind of cowed and intimidated and shrinking away from just asserting what they believe, or at least what they said they believe,” Obama said, citing some law firms and universities that have seemingly bowed to Trump’s pressure in recent months.
Obama urged Democrats to “stop looking for the messiah” and embrace the “great candidates running races right now,” pointing to upcoming elections in New Jersey and Virginia.
He made the forceful comments at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event hosted by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife, Tammy Murphy, at their home in Red Bank, New Jersey. CNN was the first to report on Obama’s remarks at the Friday fundraiser. A person familiar with the former president’s fundraiser comments confirmed them to MSNBC.
Friday was Obama’s first fundraiser appearance since the 2024 election cycle, though he has spoken out against Trump since then. Last month at an event in Hartford, Connecticut, he said the United States is “dangerously close” to normalizing behavior “consistent with autocracies.”
During the fundraiser on Friday, Obama also criticized anyone standing on the sidelines as Trump takes an ax to democratic norms and values.
“Don’t tell me you’re a Democrat but you’re kind of disappointed right now, so you’re not doing anything,” Obama said. “No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something.”
“Don’t say that you care deeply about free speech and then you’re quiet,” he continued. “No, you stand up for free speech when it’s hard. When somebody says something that you don’t like, but you still say, ‘You know what, that person has the right to speak.’ ... What’s needed now is courage.”