President Obama brought some old-fashioned disdain in speaking about Donald Trump at a fundraiser Monday night—but disdain for Trump on the merits doesn’t mean he thinks Democrats should be complacent:
"What I do want to emphasize is needing a sense of urgency and finishing the job of getting her elected," Obama said at a private residence. "And you notice I haven’t said much about her opponent. Frankly, I’m tired of talking about her opponent. I don’t have to make the case against her opponent because every time he talks he makes the case against his own candidacy.”
What is there to talk about, then? Obama had quite a bit to say about what Democrats need to do to avoid having the guy who makes the case against his own candidacy become president:
"There’s still a lot of uncertainty out there," the president added. "And if we are not running scared until the day after the election, we are going to be making a grave mistake."
If Democrats do not "do their jobs," Obama warned, "then it’s still possible for her to lose."
"And when I say 'do our jobs,' what I mean is we are going to have to continue to be engaged," Obama said. "We are going to continue to have to write checks. We are going to continue to have to make phone calls, and rally people behind her candidacy. We are still going to have to fight what has been an unrelenting negative campaign against her that has made a dent in the opinion of people even who are inclined to vote for her."
And even if putting Hillary Clinton in the White House is easier than all that, the sheer intensity and breadth of Trump’s awfulness makes it that much more important to have an overwhelming win, to reject the racism and bigotry he represents.