President Obama predicts voters will say 'no' to Trump in November

Obama appeared on CNN with Fareed Zakaria (left), a host who last month called Trump 'a bulls*** artist' on live television

Obama predicts voters will say 'no' to Trump in November as he tells host who called Trump 'a bulls*** artist' that he's like 19th Century anti-immigrant 'Know Nothing' party
President told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that 'we have to be pretty hard about saying no' to Trump's 'intolerance'

'I think that America will do that this time as well,' he said
Zakaria is staunchly anti-Trump and called him a 'bulls*** artist' on live TV a month ago

Obama recalled 'Know Nothings,' an anti-immigrant party from the 19th Century, as a comparison to what some see as Trump's nativism
President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday that American voters will say 'no' to Donald Trump in the November election, in part because of anti-immigrant sentiments that recall a 19th Century nativist political party nicknamed the 'Know Nothings.'

Trump has embraced a hard-line policy against illegal immigration but has said he favors the legal entry of immigrants with job skills needed in U.S. industry.

Still, Obama blasted the Republican presidential nominee for promoting 'intolerance' and government policies 'that are contrary to our values, banning certain classes of people because of who they are or what they look like, what faith they practice.'

'We have to be pretty hard about saying no to that,' the president said. 'And I think that America will do that this time as well.'

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'NO': President Barack Obama predicted that Americans won't elect Donald Trump because he's anti-immigrants



NOT REALLY: Trump has taken a position only against illegal immigration, a distinction Obama and other Democrats systematically overlook

Trump last year advocated a total ban on Muslims entering the United States, in reaction to a series of deadly Islamist terror attacks around the world.

Since then he has amended that proposal to focus on nation-specific immigration bans on terror-rife countries where it's impossible to vet incoming people.

Zakaria is among the most strident anti-Trump political hosts on cable television. During one broadcast last month he branded the GOP nominee 'a bulls*** artist' on live TV.



He asked Obama about 'the support that Donald Trump has' and 'where it comes from,' referring to white middle-class Americans 'who seem to have the most suspicion about you.'

Obama replied that there's a historical trend in America of citizens becoming less enthusiastic about new immigration the longer they are in the United States.





HISTORY: The 'Know Nothings' were a Protestant-only political movement in the 19th Century that wanted to keep Irish Catholics out of the United States


Obama says Trump is unfit to serve as president

'Once they're included in what they consider to be "the real America," he said, they begin 'worrying about outsiders contaminating, polluting, messing up a good thing.'

'That's not new,' he said. 'That dates back to, you know, the beginning of this country.'

Obama said the U.S. 'benefits' from immigrants in the long-term, despite a history of 'bumps' in the road, 'whether it's the Know Nothings or, know, other spasms of anti-immigrant sentiment directed at the Irish or southern Europeans as opposed to Northern Europeans, or the Chinese – or today, Latinos or Muslims.'


The 'Know Nothings' were a mid-19th Century Protestants-only political movement housed in The American Party. It promised to 'purify' American politics by slowing down or ending a wave of Irish Catholics coming into the United States.

Its nickname grew out of the movement's secretive nature. Leaders instructed members to say 'I know nothing' when asked about their involvement.

In America, Obama said Sunday, 'your patriotism and how American you are is not the color of your skin, your last name, your faith, but rather your adherence to a creed, your belief in certain principles and values.'

'And I don't expect that that's going to change simply because Mr. Trump has gotten a little more attention than usual.

Obama obliterates Trump in White House Correspondents' Dinner

Source: DAVID MARTOSKO, US POLITICAL EDITOR FOR DAILY MAIL