Joy Reid wished Barack Obama would have acted a bit more like a king during his presidency to match how Donald Trump is now.
While talking with Maury Povich on his “On Par” podcast, Reid admitted her regrets of Obama’s administration was that he didn’t wield his power as absolutely as Trump does. She thought that if he had, he would have been able to push through more legislation and initiatives that could have helped people in a broader capacity.
“My big regret about the Obama second term is that none of us understood the potential for presidential power,” Reid said. “Little did we know that a president could effectively behave as a king, as Trump is. And I wish Obama had wielded the presidency with the kind of raw and unabashed, ruthless power that Trump is, because I know he wouldn’t have done it to line his pockets.”
She added: “He would have done it to push through some really important legislation – or not legislation, but to do some things for the American people. I wish that he’d used power the way Trump does, but Trump just uses it to get richer.”
Trump has received backlash a number of times for his overt references to him being a king-like figure in America. He has joked a number of times about running for a third term, despite it being unconstitutional. (Though, he’s previously mentioned that he says it to annoy Democrats.)
Back in February, the president earned a lot more backlash when he shared a post proclaiming him a king. That heat was heightened when his social post was reshared by the official White House account.
Trump posted “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” to his Truth Social account after the administration put an end to the daytime tolls in New York. Shortly after, both the official White House X and Instagram handles posted the quote along with an image of the president in a crown standing in front of New York.
Reactions to the Instagram posts in the comments ranged from “This must be new wall art for his bathroom” to “Really??? Posting this on the official White House account is so embarrassing and disrespectful to our country.”
