--- title: Trump to Obama: 'You're Lucky I Didn't Run' in 2012 description: "[Obama] has done such a lousy job as president," Trump said canonical: https://time.com/4227284/donald-trump-obama-lucky-i-didnt-run-in-2012/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-17T15:45:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:30.285Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says Obama Is 'Lucky I Didn't Run' Against Him in 2012 og:description: Donald Trump is firing back at Obama og:url: https://time.com/4227284/donald-trump-obama-lucky-i-didnt-run-in-2012/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f519827526b6fb/69887de6a988ca4fea6b6a01/donald-trump-obama-2012-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Donald Trump in South Carolina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says Obama Is 'Lucky I Didn't Run' Against Him in 2012 twitter:description: Donald Trump is firing back at Obama twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f519827526b6fb/69887de6a988ca4fea6b6a01/donald-trump-obama-2012-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says Obama Is 'Lucky I Didn't Run' Against Him in 2012 > 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 [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Feb 17, 2016 3:45 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign stop held in the Beaufort High School performing arts center in Beaufort, SC on Tuesday Feb. 16, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign stop held in the Beaufort High School performing arts center in Beaufort, SC on Tuesday Feb. 16, 2016. Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Feb 17, 2016 3:45 PM UTC Donald Trump is firing back at President Obama for predicting that Trump won’t become the next president, telling the current commander-in-chief that he [could beat him in an election](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-obama-is-lucky-i-didnt-run-against-him-in-2012/). “You’re lucky I didn’t run last time when Romney ran because you would have been a one-term president,” Trump said at a Tuesday rally in Beaufort, S.C., in reference to the 2012 election, CBS News reports. Earlier that day, Obama said at press conference in California, “I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president … I have a lot of faith faith in the American people. Being president is a serious job. It’s not hosting a talk show, or a reality show.” Trump didn’t hold back in his response: “He has done such a lousy job as president,” he said. “You look at our budgets. You look at our spending. We can’t beat ISIS. Obamacare is terrible. We’re going to terminate it. We’re going to absolutely terminate and replace it … Our borders are like Swiss cheese.” \[[_CBS_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-obama-is-lucky-i-didnt-run-against-him-in-2012/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4227284/donald-trump-obama-lucky-i-didnt-run-in-2012/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4227284/donald-trump-obama-lucky-i-didnt-run-in-2012/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says Obama Is 'Lucky I Didn't Run' Against Him in 2012","datePublished":"2016-02-17T15:45:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:30.285Z","description":"\"[Obama] has done such a lousy job as president\"","url":"https://time.com/4227284/donald-trump-obama-lucky-i-didnt-run-in-2012/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","2016 Campaign"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f519827526b6fb/69887de6a988ca4fea6b6a01/donald-trump-obama-2012-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58f519827526b6fb/69887de6a988ca4fea6b6a01/donald-trump-obama-2012-president.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump in South Carolina","caption":"Donald Trump in South Carolina","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/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":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4227284/donald-trump-obama-lucky-i-didnt-run-in-2012/","name":"Donald Trump Says Obama Is 'Lucky I Didn't Run' Against Him in 2012"}}]}] ```