--- 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: 2026-10-07T06:54:21.258Z 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, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6cf7a1ba-bcb7-4631-9fcf-45b7522392b4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama: Donald Trump’s Election and Brexit Both Reflect People’s Economic Fears [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama: Donald Trump’s Election and Brexit Both Reflect People’s Economic Fears](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4pAp2VOB.m3u8) (2:57)  _Published 2016-11-15. Drawing a broad lesson from the election of Donald Trump, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that world leaders need to pay heed to people’s very real fears of economic dislocation and inequality in the midst of globalization_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Nov 15, 2016 5:24 PM UTC Drawing a broad lesson from the election of Donald Trump, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that world leaders need to pay heed to people’s very real fears of economic dislocation and inequality in the midst of globalization  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: --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:09] You've seen some of the rhetoric among [00:15] Republican- Elected officials, and activists, and media. [00:20] Some of it pretty troubling. And not necessarily [00:24] connected to facts, but being [00:28] used effectively to mobilize people. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:34] And obviously President- elect Trump tapped [00:38] into that particular strain within the republican party [00:41] and then was able to broaden that enough. And get [00:45] enough votes to win [00:49] the election. Time will now tell whether the [00:52] prescriptions that are being offered, whether Brexit or [00:57] With respect to the US election ends up actually [01:00] satisfying those people who've been fearful, [01:04] or angry, or concerned. And, and I [01:08] think that's gonna be an interesting test. Because [01:12] I think I can make a pretty strong argument that the [01:14] policies we put forward were the right ones. That [01:18] we've grown faster than just about any advanced [01:20] economy. The country is indisputably [01:25] better off and those folks who voted for [01:30] the president elect Are better of than they were when I [01:33] came into office for the most part. The lesson I draw [01:37] and I think people can draw a lot of lessons but maybe [01:40] one that cuts across countries is [01:46] we have to deal with issues like inequality, we have to [01:50] deal with issues of [01:53] Economic dislocation. We have to deal with people's [01:58] fears that their children won't do as well as they have. [02:05] The more aggressively and effectively we deal with [02:09] those issues, the less Those [02:13] fears may channel themselves into counter productive [02:21] approaches, that pit people against each other. Well I [02:25] think it's fair to say that I was surprised by the election [02:27] results, and I've said so. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I [02:34] still don't feel responsible for what the president- elect [02:38] says or does, but I do feel a responsibility [02:42] as President of the United States to make sure that I [02:45] facilitate a good transition, and I present to him, [02:50] as well as the American people, My best thinking, my [02:54] best ideas about how you move the country forward. ```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":"2026-10-07T06:54:21.258Z","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":"https://time.com/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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama: Donald Trump’s Election and Brexit Both Reflect People’s Economic Fears","description":"Drawing a broad lesson from the election of Donald Trump, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that world leaders need to pay heed to people’s very real fears of economic dislocation and inequality in the midst of globalization","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4pAp2VOB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-15T16:38:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4pAp2VOB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/","duration":"PT2M57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4571676/president-obama-donald-trump-economic-anxiety/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```