--- title: Barack Obama on Donald Trump: 'Talk To Me If He Wins' description: Barack Obama doesn't think Americans will end up voting for Donald Trump because his message of fear won't resonate with voters. canonical: https://time.com/4177484/barack-obama-donald-trump-election/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-12T18:20:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:44.087Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama on Donald Trump: 'Talk To Me If He Wins' og:description: "Talk to me if he wins" og:url: https://time.com/4177484/barack-obama-donald-trump-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab5b05f8e8ed22b/6988777f8e0601ea03463f8d/h_52501526.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: Obama remarks on gun violence og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama on Donald Trump: 'Talk To Me If He Wins' twitter:description: "Talk to me if he wins" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab5b05f8e8ed22b/6988777f8e0601ea03463f8d/h_52501526.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says Americans Won't Vote for Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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 [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 12, 2016 6:20 PM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers remarks to reporters following a meeting on executive actions he can take to curb gun violence with members of his national security team in Washington, DC on Jan. 4, 2016. President Barack Obama delivers remarks to reporters following a meeting on executive actions he can take to curb gun violence with members of his national security team in Washington, DC on Jan. 4, 2016. Michael Reynolds—EPA  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 12, 2016 6:20 PM UTC Barack Obama [doesn’t think](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/12/obama-says-americans-will-reject-donald-trumps-message/?tid=sm%5Ffb) Americans will end up voting for Donald Trump. On NBC’s “Today” show, Obama doubted the billionaire’s electoral chances, telling the hosts, “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 continued, “that does work together and doesn’t try to divide us, that isn’t looking for simplistic solutions and scapegoating but looks for us buckling down and figuring out, ‘How do we make things work for the next generation?'” Obama’s [final State of the Union address](http://time.com/4176658/barack-obama-final-state-union-analysis/) will be delivered Tuesday, and when asked if he could one day imagine Trump delivering his own, Obama said, “”Well, I can imagine it — in a _Saturday Night (Live)_ skit.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4177484/barack-obama-donald-trump-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4177484/barack-obama-donald-trump-election/"},"headline":"Obama Says Americans Won't Vote for Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-01-12T18:20:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:44.087Z","description":"\"Talk to me if he wins\"","url":"https://time.com/4177484/barack-obama-donald-trump-election/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Barack Obama","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab5b05f8e8ed22b/6988777f8e0601ea03463f8d/h_52501526.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ab5b05f8e8ed22b/6988777f8e0601ea03463f8d/h_52501526.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obama remarks on gun violence","caption":"Obama remarks on gun violence","creditText":"Michael Reynolds—EPA","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":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4177484/barack-obama-donald-trump-election/","name":"Obama Says Americans Won't Vote for Donald Trump"}}]}] ```