Obama Breaks Down the Powers No U.S. President Should Have

Former President Barack Obama has never been afraid to call a spade a spade, especially when the fate of democracy is at stake. Now, in a recent interview with “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, the Democrat got candid about what he thinks all presidents– past, present and future– should not do. And there might be one president who should be taking notes.

“There are a couple [rules] that I followed even though they weren’t law,” Obama began, referring to his time as president. Now, he warned that “we’re gonna have to do some work to return it to this basic norm,” after President Donald Trump leaves office.

We’ve kept you up to date on all of Trump’s most controversial moves, including targeting his political enemies, starting a war in Iran and sending the National Guard and immigration enforcement agents to Democrat-led cities. According to Obama, these are not the actions a president should take.

“We can survive a lot– bad policy, funky elections, there’s a bunch of stuff that, you know, we can overcome,” Obama said. “We can’t overcome the politicization of our justice system, the awesome power of the state. You can’t have a situation in which whoever is in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies or reward their friends.”

Specifically, the country’s first Black president called out the current president for using the attorney general as his personal “consigliere,” or an adviser to the leader of a Mafia family-style criminal organization. Trump has been repeatedly criticized for using the U.S. Attorney General’s office to prosecute and investigate folks at his discretion. This includes bringing charges against former FBI Director James Comey and even the mishandling of the infamous files connected to disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

“The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants to prosecute,” he continued. “The norm is– the idea is that the attorney general is the people’s lawyer.” Obama also took aim at Trump’s mass pardoning of the 1,200 people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, as well as suggesting the president not be allowed to “pardon people who’ve given you a bunch of campaign contributions.”

The former president told Colbert these are democratic “norms” that “probably” need to be codified by Congress.

Adding to the list of things not to do, Obama also expressed concerns with a leader using the military to do their bidding. “There had been a whole series of norms that were in place to ensure that you weren’t trying to make the military loyal to you, as opposed to the Constitution, and the people of the United States,” Obama said. “We’re going to have to find mechanisms to restore that.” 

While Obama never named any names, it became pretty clear that he was referring to President Trump. He even jabbed at Trump, saying there’s a “pretty obvious principle” that might not be law, but is certainly a matter of ethics: “The president of the United States shouldn’t have a bunch of side hustles that companies and foreign entities can invest in.”

Those comments came after critics raised concerns about Trump flaunting Teslas at the White House with Elon Musk last year and a controversial decision to accept a Qatari jet, which the administration said would be used as Air Force One.

Meanwhile, the former president is prepping for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which will open to the public on Juneteenth.