--- title: President Obama on Why Donald Trump Won: Read Transcript description: President Obama on Tuesday said world leaders should learn from the U.S. presidential election and pay attention to the economic concerns canonical: https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-15T17:24:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:17.740Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Speech Saying Donald Trump Tapped Into Economic Fear og:description: "We have to deal with people's fears that their children won't do as well as they have" og:url: https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7effc17c02e60702/6988ae8f8e06010ffc468444/president-obama-greece-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3402 og:image:height: 1914 og:image:alt: President Obama Visits Greece For His Last Foreign Trip og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Speech Saying Donald Trump Tapped Into Economic Fear twitter:description: "We have to deal with people's fears that their children won't do as well as they have" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7effc17c02e60702/6988ae8f8e06010ffc468444/president-obama-greece-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Speech Saying Donald Trump Tapped Into Economic Anxiety > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 15, 2016 5:24 PM UTC  President Barack Obama walks with Greek National Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, right, and Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff after his arrival at the Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos on Nov. 15, 2016 in Athens, Greece. President Barack Obama walks with Greek National Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, right, and Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff after his arrival at the Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos on Nov. 15, 2016 in Athens, Greece. Milos Bicanski/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 15, 2016 5:24 PM UTC President Barack Obama on Tuesday said [world leaders should learn from the U.S. presidential election](http://time.com/4571422/president-obama-greece-donald-trump/?xid=homepage) and pay attention to the public’s fears and [frustration about the economy](http://time.com/4495507/donald-trump-economy-speech-transcript/). “President-elect Trump tapped into that particular strain within the Republican Party and then was able to broaden that enough and get enough votes to [win the election](http://time.com/4563685/donald-trump-wins/),” Obama said, speaking at a press conference in Athens, Greece with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “The lesson I draw, and I think people can draw a lot of lessons, but maybe one that cuts across countries is we have to deal with issues like inequality, we have to deal with issues of economic dislocation, we have to deal with people’s fears that their children won’t do as well as they have.” Obama also raised questions about whether the election of Trump or the “Brexit” vote in the U.K. will ultimately offer solutions to the people who voted for them. “Time will now tell whether the prescriptions that are being offered, whether Brexit or with respect to the U.S. election, ends up actually satisfying those people who have been fearful or angry or concerned,” he said. Read Obama’s and Tspiras’ full remarks here: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Speech Saying Donald Trump Tapped Into Economic Anxiety","datePublished":"2016-11-15T17:24:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:17.740Z","description":"\"We have to deal with people's fears that their children won't do as well as they have\"","url":"https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/","keywords":["2016 Election","Barack Obama","White House","Greece","Donald Trump","transcript","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7effc17c02e60702/6988ae8f8e06010ffc468444/president-obama-greece-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7effc17c02e60702/6988ae8f8e06010ffc468444/president-obama-greece-transcript.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Visits Greece For His Last Foreign Trip","caption":"President Obama Visits Greece For His Last Foreign Trip","creditText":"Milos Bicanski/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/","name":"Read President Obama's Speech Saying Donald Trump Tapped Into Economic Anxiety"}}]}] ```