President Obama finally joined Bill Maher on his talk show for a comprehensive interview covering topics such as the media and Donald Trump. The edited version of the interview ran on Real Time, while the uncut version was posted online Friday, Variety reports.
Here’s what Obama had to say about people’s mistrust of the media:
“I think the question I’d have when it comes to the media is, ‘How do we create a space where truth gets eyeballs and is entertaining and we can build a common conversation?’” Obama asked. “When I leave here, one of the things I’m most concerned about is the balkanization of the media,” he said. “People have difficulty now just sorting out what’s true and what’s not.”
Obama later expressed his desire to get a chance to sit down with each American individually for a conversation. “The problem is, we’ve got all these filters,” he said. “Look, if I watched Fox News, I probably wouldn’t vote for me either. Because you’ve got this screen, this funhouse mirror, through which people are receiving their information. How to break through that is a real challenge.”
What does Obama think about this election? “The stakes are high,” he said. “The choice in this election should be really clear.”
He also stressed that there is indeed a clear candidate who must win this election. “Every single issue that we’ve made progress on in the last eight years is gonna be on the ballot in the form of this choice,” he said.
“I have worked with Hillary Clinton. I know her and she is somebody who cares about these issues, she does her homework, she cares deeply about ordinary folks, her policies are aligned with yours and mine… And, yes, she is somebody who believes in compromise so that you don’t get 100 percent of what you want, but you know what? That’s the way this democracy works. Anybody sitting on the sidelines right now or deciding to engage in a protest vote, that’s a vote for Trump and that would be badly damaging for this country and it would be damaging for the world. So no complacency this time.”