Obama Mocks Republican Presidential Candidates’ Complaints Over CNBC Debate

With Republican candidates still in an uproar over last week’s dismal CNBC debate, President Obama on Monday found the perfect opportunity to skewer their ongoing complaints while at the same time challenging the GOP candidates’ self-proclaimed strengths concerning their toughness in foreign affairs.

“Every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak, Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s going to straighten out,'” Obama told a crowd at a Democratic fundraising event in New York. “And then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators.”

“If you can’t handle those guys, I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.”

The president’s zinger followed a performance of the critically acclaimed musical Hamilton, an Obama favorite, which was the setting for Monday’s fundraiser.

As for the latest on where GOP presidential hopefuls stand regarding future debates, Donald Trump’s camp announced yesterday he’s decided to negotiate with networks directly, distancing himself from the rest of the group and their list of demands.

LESS DREADING, MORE DOING

This is the rubber-meets-road moment: the early days in our first fundraising drive since we took a big swing and merged with CIR to bring fearless investigative reporting to the internet, radio, video, and everywhere else that people need an antidote to lies and propaganda.

Donations have started slow, and we hope that explaining, level-headedly, why your support really is everything for our reporting will make a difference. Learn more in “Less Dreading, More Doing,” or in this 2:28 video about our merger (that literally just won an award), and please pitch in if you can right now.

payment methods

LESS DREADING, MORE DOING

This is the rubber-meets-road moment: the early days in our first fundraising drive since we took a big swing and merged with CIR to bring fearless investigative reporting to the internet, radio, video, and everywhere else that people need an antidote to lies and propaganda.

Donations have started slow, and we hope that explaining, level-headedly, why your support really is everything for our reporting will make a difference. Learn more in “Less Dreading, More Doing,” or in this 2:28 video about our merger (that literally just won an award), and please pitch in if you can right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate