Trump on a Hypothetical Matchup With Obama: "I Think I'd Beat Him Easily"
In an interview with Stephen A. Smith released on November 12, President Trump was asked a hypothetical question: if he and former President Barack Obama could both run again and faced each other in a presidential election, what would happen. Trump answered that he thought he would beat Obama easily, and called Obama highly overrated.
The roughly 48-minute interview was recorded at the White House. After Smith floated the scenario, Trump first said he had received many more votes than Obama and held the records in the big states, pointing to his all-time vote records in Texas and Florida. Pressed on whether he was saying he would beat Obama, Trump replied: "Yeah, I think I'd beat him easily. I think he's highly overrated." He added that he did not think Obama was a good president, called him a divider, and described himself as someone who unites American society and made America successful.
The matchup is purely hypothetical. The 22nd Amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, and both Trump and Obama have been elected twice, so neither could legally run. The two men have also never faced each other in an election: Federal Election Commission records show Trump won about 77.3 million popular votes in 2024, while Obama won about 69.5 million in 2008 and about 65.9 million in 2012, and vote totals from different years against different opponents cannot establish what a head-to-head race would produce. Obama has not publicly responded.
In the same interview, Trump also discussed the midterm election results and requests from five Gulf states that he hold off on a large-scale strike against Iran, both covered separately by GSM.
Related: Trump, Interviewed by Stephen A. Smith, Discusses the Midterms
Related: Trump Says Five Gulf States Asked Him to Hold Off on a Major Strike Against Iran
Source: The Stephen A. Smith Show
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：特朗普在白宫椭圆形办公室坚毅桌前展示已签署法案（2025年7月18日，资料图，本站特朗普官方照片池档案）。白宫官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: President Trump displays a signed bill at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office on July 18, 2025 (file photo; GSM Trump photo pool archive). Official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
