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Ex-Presidents Under Fire for Silence on Trump: ‘The Time Is Now’

Should Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden stay mum on Trump’s rampage?

Some Democratic are dismayed that the living former U.S. presidents have largely fallen silent amid the whirlwind first month of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Despite each offering some degree of criticism against Trump in the past, the four other presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden—have kept quiet during the Trump White House’s assault on political norms.

“No one knows more about the importance of our presidents respecting separation of powers and showing restraint than former presidents,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne told The Hill. “Given Trump’s ongoing power grab, those voices and perspectives of our ex-presidents would be critical to the public discourse at this moment.”

His stance was echoed by unnamed former senior Obama aide.

“I don’t know what they’re waiting for,” the insider told The Hill. “The time isn’t when Trump ignores court rulings. The time is now.”

Since entering office on Jan. 20, Trump has given his critics plenty of fodder. He has installed loyalists in key administration positions, flouted the Constitution by issuing brazen executive orders, and fired thousands of federal employees (with Elon Musk’s help).

On Wednesday, Trump went as far as to refer to himself as a “king.”

All three of the Democratic presidents had been unsparing in their previous criticism of Trump.

In his farewell address, Biden warned that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms.”

He emphasized the importance of staying “engaged” in the Democratic process.

Meanwhile, Obama and his wife Michelle Obama were two of Kamala Harris' highest-profile surrogates during the 2024 campaign.

A month after Trump’s election, Obama gave a speech about the “increasing willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way.”

Obama did dip his toes into Trump criticism earlier this month, posting on X a New York Times op-ed slamming Trump and Musk’s push to end the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“USAID has been fighting disease, feeding children, and promoting goodwill around the world for six decades,” he wrote. “As this article makes clear, dismantling this agency would be a profound foreign policy mistake - one that Congress should resist.”

Otherwise, it’s been crickets.

Although Bush has seemed to cast indirect criticism at Trump and MAGA Republicanism, he has long refrained from explicit rebukes of his party member.

“It’s out of respect to the office,” a former Bush aide told The Hill. “It’s just not his style.”

In the past, presidents in general have steered clear of openly criticizing their successors—seemingly as sign of deference.

To that point, Democratic strategist Lynda Tran told The Hill that “in the age of Trump, it’s more important than ever that we respect and adhere to long-standing traditions,” like past presidents avoiding public debates with the sitting commander in chief.

She urged “faith in the other branches of government.”

Meanwhile, Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist who doesn’t support Trump, said that there would be no upside to criticism from the presidents.

“They can’t, and they know it,” she said. “If they lend their voices to the conversation, they’ll just be taken down by Trump. If they speak out, it’ll be for the history books, not to affect the Trump presidency now.”

Del Percio added that there’s no “influencing” Trump. “These presidents know that; if anything, they understand better than anybody the power of the presidency.”

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Liam ArchackiNews Reporter

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