Former President Barack Obama launched his return to the campaign trail Friday with a fiery speech in Illinois, accusing President Trump and fellow Republicans of giving a “home” to “the politics of division and resentment.”

Obama claimed certain “powerful and privileged” people want to “keep us angry because it helps them keep their power and their privilege.”

“It did not start with Donald Trump,” Obama said. “He is a symptom, not the cause. He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years.”

“Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if [it wasn’t] for those who don’t look like us or don’t sound like us or don’t pray like we do, that’s an old playbook,” Obama said, adding that people on either side of the aisle will call out “bigots and fear mongers” in a healthy democracy.

This is an excerpt. Read the rest at Fox News.

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Obama jumps back into political fray, calls out Trump by name: ‘He is a symptom, not the cause’

He praised America’s accomplishments but said there is a darker side to progress when politicians peddle resentment and mistrust to preserve the status quo.

“It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause,” Mr. Obama said. “He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years.”

He also took a jab at Mr. Trump’s emphasis on the economy, telling the audience to “remember when that recovery started.”

The former president explained he planned on following the precedent set by George Washington “to gracefully exit” the political stage, but speaks now as a citizen.

“As a fellow citizen, not as an ex-president, but as a fellow citizen I’m here to deliver a simple message and that is: you need to vote because our democracy depends on it,” he told students.

This is an excerpt. Read more at the Washington Times.

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