Obama targets companies that made deals with Trump: ‘We have the ability to take a stand’ | Barack Obama
Barack Obama took aim at institutions and companies that have made deals or reached settlements with the Trump administration, saying in a new episode of the podcast: “I think we all have that ability to take a stand.”
In a conversation with Marc Maron about the comedian’s latest release from his long-running works WTF with Marc MaronThe former US president said that institutions – including law firms, universities and companies – that changed course during the Trump administration should have stuck to their convictions.
Instead of bowing to the administration, Obama suggested that universities should say, “It’s going to hurt if we lose some grant money to the federal government, but that’s what endowments are for. And let’s see if we can get around this, because what we’re not going to do is compromise our basic academic independence.”
He also noted that organizations that have conceded to Trump should be able to say: “We’re not going to be bullied into saying we can only hire people or promote people based on some criteria that Steve Miller cooked up,” referring to the top White House aide and architect of Trump’s hard-line immigration policy.
Obama, whose first term preceded Trump’s first administration, said companies also had to stand up against the administration’s pressure campaign to roll back diversity hiring.
“We think it’s important, because of the nature of this country, to hire people from different backgrounds,” Obama said.
Universities, law firms and other companies have reached agreements with the White House, including dropping DEI goals and agreeing to rein in anti-Semitism on campus in exchange for restoring federal funding. A string of powerful Washington law firms have also agreed to provide pro bono legal services to the administration, while companies have backed away from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Disney, a frequent target of ideological political factions from the left and right, has eliminated its internal “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” platform in favor of “Opportunity and Inclusion” to enable “all through access, opportunity, and a culture of belonging.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Obama acknowledged that integrity comes at a price.
“Sometimes it’s going to be uncomfortable,” he told Maron, referring to a joke Maron told in his stand-up routine that Democrats upset the average American into fascism.
“It shocked me,” Obama said. “I wasn’t funny saying this, but four or five years ago I said, ‘Look, you can’t just be scolding all the time. You can’t constantly lecture people without acknowledging that you have some blind spots, too.'”
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The weakness, he said, comes in defending basic convictions but without trying to assert “that I am so good, so pure, so visionary, that there is no possibility of me being wrong in this matter.”
“There was this weird progressive language, which implied a ‘holier-than-thou superiority’, not unlike what we used to joke about from the right and the moral majority… and some fundamentalism that I thought was dangerous,” he said.
Maron aired the final episode of his show on Monday after 16 years of hosting and with more than 1,600 segments broadcast from his garage in Los Angeles. Obama brought the 62-year-old comedian and actor to his office in Washington for the final interview.
Obama asked the initial questions. “How do you feel about this whole thing?” “Moving on,” he said, “moving on from this thing that was one of the defining parts of your career and your life?”
“I feel fine,” Maron replied. “I feel like I’m kind of ready for a break, but there’s kind of a fear there of, what do I do now? I’m busy. But, it’s no different than your job… I have a lot of people who have come to depend on me over the last 16 years.”