Obama Asks What 'If I Had Done What Trump Is Doing' In Epic Resurfaced Clip

Every day seems to bring a new outrageous act by the administration of MAGA Republican President Donald Trump.

Perhaps that's why the words of the man whose biggest scandal during his presidency was a tan suit keep going viral after he originally said them. Former Democratic President Barack Obama spoke at Hamilton College on April 3, 2025.

Early in the discussion with Hamilton College President Steven Tepper, the 44th POTUS said:

"There have been a lot of injustices and bad ideas in the world that lasted a pretty long time. Then eventually you get a breakthrough. Then sometimes after the breakthrough, folks decide they want to go back to bad ideas, and then you got to go back at it."

In regards to his relationship to his predecessors and successors, he stated:

"There are some bonds that transcend party, region, or ideology. There was a creed that we all stuck to."

"That basic notion of American democracy as embodied in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights said, all of us count, all of us have dignity, all of us have worth that we’re going to set up a system in which there’s rule of law and separation of powers and an independent judiciary."

"There are these freedoms, a freedom of worship and freedom of the press and an assurance that if we go before the law, there will be an impartial process to make decisions. We all stuck to that, more or less."

"I do believe that our commitment to those principles has eroded..."

The former POTUS then addressed the Trump administration's intimidation tactics against colleges, universities, the press, and private law firms, saying he was "troubled by the idea that a White House" would stoop to such levels, driven largely by the ego and insecurities of one man.

President Obama shared:

"I think one of the most important aspects of our democratic practice is having a well-informed citizenry which is reliant on a free, objective, effective press, and that started getting attacked."

"...I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech."

"I am more troubled by the idea that a White House can say to law firms, 'If you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively.'"

He then added:

"That kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans."

"Imagine if I had done any of this."

That clearly resonated with the audience based on the reaction it elicited.

You can watch the moment here:

President Obama said that under Trump, maintaining integrity may require losing federal funding:

"If you are a university, you may have to figure out, are we in fact doing things right? Have we in fact violated our own values, our own code, violated the law in some fashion."

"If not, and you’re just being intimidated, well, you should be able to say, that's why we got this big endowment."

- YouTubeyoutube.com

He also touched on Trump punishing the Associated Press for using the Gulf of Mexico—the name that predates the founding of the three countries that border the body of water—instead of Trump's new name.

President Obama said:

"Imagine if I had pulled Fox News’ credentials from the White House press corps."

"You’re laughing, but this is what’s happening."

People agreed completely with President Obama's assessment of the hypocrisy of the GOP and MAGA.

@allenanalysis/X

@abscynth286/Bluesky

It's also a sentiment many people have echoed.

@steveinburnaby/Bluesky

You can watch President Obama's full six minutes speaking on the topic here:

youtu.be

While everyone can answer what the GOP and MAGA would have done, based on their reaction to President Barack Obama just existing, it's also true no Democratic administration would do what's on the Project 2025/Trump agenda.

The things that are happening that violate the United States Constitution should be wrong no matter who does it.

Let's embrace that concept again.