Video
'SHOW SOME RESPECT'
Barack Obama stops crowd from turning on war vet Donald Trump supporter by telling Hillary Clinton fans to shut up
PRESIDENT Obama told a crowd of Hillary Clinton supporters to show some "respect" to a veteran Donald Trump fan after they started booing him.
Barack Obama was speaking during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate Clinton in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was interrupted by rally-goers who started yelling at an old man in military attire holding a pro-Trump banner.
6
6
As people began shouting, Obama seemed to have lost control of the crowd and had to repeatedly tell the crowd to "hold up" before ordering them to "be quiet".
“Hey! Listen up! I told you to be focused, and you’re not focused right now!" he said. “Listen to what I’m saying. Hold up. Hold up! Hold up! Hold up! Everybody sit down, and be quiet for a second.”
After finally grabbing attendees' attention, Obama said: “You’ve got an older gentleman who is supporting his candidate. He’s not doing nothing. You don’t have to worry about him. This is what I mean about folks not being focused."
6
6
The president then defended the elderly man's right to protest and reminded the audience that America is a country that respects free speech in a compassionate speech.
“First of all, we live in a country that respects free speech," he said. "Second of all, it looks like maybe he might’ve served in our military and we got to respect that.
"Third of all, he was elderly and we got to respect our elders. And fourth of all, don’t boo, vote.”
Many people from the rally then shouted out “vote” before Obama finished the sentence.
The pensioner, who is believed to be a member of the 101st Airborne, was eventually escorted from the venue.
Related Stories
Obama then took back control of the rally to continue to deliver his planned speech - just days before Election Day on November 8.
He called on voters not to get distracted by the animosity of the election cycle and instead keep focused on ensuring Trump does not win
"I want you to pay attention," he said. "Because if we don’t, if we lose focus, we could have problems. This is part of what’s happened here during this election season. We just get stirred up for all kinds of reasons that are unnecessary. Just relax."
But he used the incident to take a swipe at Republic presidential candidate Trump.
6
"We can't afford a Commander-in-Chief who insults Prisoner of Wars, who attacks a Gold Star mother, who actually talks down our troops, says he knows more than our generals," he said.
"We can't have somebody like that handling our nuclear codes. We can't have somebody who gets upset because 'Saturday Night Live' does a skit about him and starts tweeting at three o’clock in the morning.
"That's not the temperament that you want for somebody who has got the nuclear codes."
6
With the race for the White House in its final week, the candidates have been trading increasingly vicious blows to become Barack Obama’s successor.
Trump and Clinton have been knocking lumps out of each other for months as one of the most talked about elections in recent history fast approaches.
Last Friday, Clinton made a desperate plea urging Americans to vote.
She said: "I know that a lot of people say they want change but let me tell you: change is inevitable. There will be change. The question is: what kind of change?"
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368
Topics