--- title: President Obama on Donald Trump: Full Transcript of Comments description: Here is a transcript of President Obama's remarks about Donald Trump and the presidential race during his weekly press conference on Friday canonical: https://time.com/4321465/barack-obama-donald-trump-remarks-transcript/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-06T17:59:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:11.223Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Obama's Comments on Trump and the Presidential Race og:description: "This is not entertainment, this is not a reality show." og:url: https://time.com/4321465/barack-obama-donald-trump-remarks-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83f34ab7adde3990/6988923dcf40a8440ec4327b/barack-obama-press-briefing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama Makes Statement On The Economy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Obama's Comments on Trump and the Presidential Race twitter:description: "This is not entertainment, this is not a reality show." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83f34ab7adde3990/6988923dcf40a8440ec4327b/barack-obama-press-briefing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Barack Obama's Comments on Donald Trump and the Presidential Race > 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 May 6, 2016 5:59 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 6. President Barack Obama speaks in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on May 6. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 6, 2016 5:59 PM UTC Following his remarks on the economy on Friday, President Obama [commented on Donald Trump](http://time.com/4321376/barack-obama-donald-trump-reality-show/) becoming the [presumptive GOP presidential nominee](http://time.com/4317397/donald-trump-presumptive-nominee-indiana-primary-november-hillary-clinton/), calling on the American people to examine every candidate’s positions with “exacting standards and genuine scrutiny.” “This is not entertainment, this is not a reality show,” he said. “This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.” And as a “general rule,” Obama said, he has “no thoughts on [Mr. Trump’s tweets](http://time.com/4320045/donald-trump-hispanics-tweet-taco-bowl-cinco-de-mayo/).” Here is a transcript of Obama’s remarks during the weekly press conference. --- > “” --- **Read More:** [_Paul Ryan Says He Can’t Support Donald Trump—Yet_](http://time.com/4320139/donald-trump-paul-ryan-republican-party/?xid=homepage) --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4321465/barack-obama-donald-trump-remarks-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4321465/barack-obama-donald-trump-remarks-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Barack Obama's Comments on Donald Trump and the Presidential Race","datePublished":"2016-05-06T17:59:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:11.223Z","description":"\"This is not entertainment, this is not a reality show\"","url":"https://time.com/4321465/barack-obama-donald-trump-remarks-transcript/","keywords":["2016 Election","Barack Obama","White House","transcripts"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83f34ab7adde3990/6988923dcf40a8440ec4327b/barack-obama-press-briefing.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/blt83f34ab7adde3990/6988923dcf40a8440ec4327b/barack-obama-press-briefing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama Makes Statement On The Economy","caption":"President Barack Obama Makes Statement On The Economy","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/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/4321465/barack-obama-donald-trump-remarks-transcript/","name":"Read Barack Obama's Comments on Donald Trump and the Presidential Race"}}]}] ```