--- title: Barack Obama: Donald Trump Will Not Be President description: "I have a lot of faith in the American people." canonical: https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-16T23:47:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:08:05.643Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama: Donald Trump Will Not Be President og:description: "I have a lot of faith in the American people." og:url: https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdc5300bc3762a63/69887de00a4a221a809c8668/barack-obama-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama: Donald Trump Will Not Be President twitter:description: "I have a lot of faith in the American people." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdc5300bc3762a63/69887de00a4a221a809c8668/barack-obama-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama: 'Mr. Trump Will Not Be President' ## Video: TIME Raw: Obama Says He Will Pick A 'Qualified' Supreme Court Nominee [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Obama Says He Will Pick A 'Qualified' Supreme Court Nominee](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/veyEEaTj.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2016-02-16_ by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 16, 2016 11:47 PM CUT  Barack Obama speaks in Rancho Mirage, Calif. on Feb. 16, 2016. Barack Obama speaks in Rancho Mirage, Calif. on Feb. 16, 2016.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 16, 2016 11:47 PM CUT President Obama is confident that his successor will not be businessman and Republican front runner Donald Trump. “I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be President,” President Obama said at a news conference in California on Monday, following a two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. “I have a lot of faith in the American people.” Obama spoke bluntly, saying that the job of President of the United States is “hard” and nothing like “hosting a talk show or a reality show,” in an apparent jab at the business mogul who starred in the reality-TV show _The Apprentice._ The President also brushed off Trump’s success — he came in second in the Iowa caucuses and dominated the New Hampshire primary — as a product of the frenzied primary season. “As you get closer, reality has a way of intruding,” Obama said, before reminding reporters that the person who succeeds him will have access to the nuclear codes and the power to send young people into battle. “The American people are pretty sensible,” Obama added. “I think they’ll make a sensible choice in the end.” This is not the first time Obama has sounded bearish on a Trump presidency. In January, the President doubted the GOP front runner’s chances in a _Today Show_ appearance, saying, “Talk to me if he wins.” “I’m pretty confident that the overwhelming majority of Americans are looking for the kind of politics that does feed our hopes and not our fears,” Obama said at the time. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/"},"headline":"President Obama: 'Mr. Trump Will Not Be President'","datePublished":"2016-02-16T23:47:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:08:05.643Z","description":"\"I have a lot of faith in the American people.\"","url":"https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Barack Obama","White House","Obama","2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdc5300bc3762a63/69887de00a4a221a809c8668/barack-obama-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbdc5300bc3762a63/69887de00a4a221a809c8668/barack-obama-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama speaks in Rancho Mirage, Calif. on Feb. 16, 2016.","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","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/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/","name":"President Obama: 'Mr. Trump Will Not Be President'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Obama Says He Will Pick A 'Qualified' Supreme Court Nominee","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/veyEEaTj/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-16T23:49:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/veyEEaTj.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/","duration":"PT1M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4226736/president-obama-mr-trump-will-not-be-president/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```