Barack Obama
MARCH 2008
“She is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, you know, there’s a reaction that’s been bred in our experiences.”
On Philadelphia radio, about his white grandmother, days after his speech on race had described her fear of Black men passing on the street. Critics said it stereotyped white people.
His response: a spokesman said he meant she had the same fears shared by many of her generation, not that she held any racial animosity.
UPI and U.S. News
Donald Trump
JUNE 2015
“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Speaking about Mexican immigrants in the speech launching his first presidential campaign. Several Republican rivals denounced the remarks, and businesses including NBC and Macy’s cut ties with him.
His response: “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”
Fox News
Barack Obama
APRIL 2008
“It’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
At a closed press fundraiser in San Francisco, about small town voters in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton called it demeaning; John McCain’s campaign called it elitist.
His response: “I didn’t say it as well as I should have.” He said the substance was true, that people who feel let down turn to what they can count on.
NPR and CBS News
Donald Trump
JULY 2015
“He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
At the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, about Sen. John McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam after being shot down. Republicans across the party condemned it.
His response: he refused to apologize, and said McCain had done a poor job for veterans.
NPR and The Washington Post
Barack Obama
JUNE 2008
“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
At a fundraiser in Philadelphia, warning donors the general election against McCain would get ugly. Critics called it a call to violence, and brought it up again after the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
His response: his campaign said it was a line from the film The Untouchables about fighting back against attacks, not about weapons. He followed it at the time with a joke that “folks in Philly like a good brawl.”
FactCheck.org and Snopes
Donald Trump
DECEMBER 2015
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
A written campaign statement, read aloud at a rally in South Carolina, days after the San Bernardino attack. Leaders of both parties called it unconstitutional.
His response: he stood by it. The statement stayed on his campaign website until May 2017, months into his presidency.
NPR and the statement itself
Barack Obama
SEPTEMBER 2008
“You can put lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.”
At a rally in Lebanon, Virginia, about McCain’s claim to be the candidate of change, days after Sarah Palin’s lipstick joke at the convention. The McCain campaign called it a smear on Palin and demanded an apology.
His response: he called it “phony outrage and Swift boat politics,” and noted McCain had used the same phrase about a Clinton proposal the year before.
CNN
Donald Trump
JANUARY 2016
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?”
At a rally at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, boasting about the loyalty of his supporters. The crowd laughed.
His response: none offered. He has never withdrawn it.
NBC News and PBS NewsHour
Donald Trump
JUNE 2016
“He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico.”
Arguing that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, born in Indiana, was biased against him in the Trump University fraud case. House Speaker Paul Ryan called it “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
NBC News
Donald Trump
OCTOBER 2016
“I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.”
On a 2005 Access Hollywood recording, published by The Washington Post a month before the election. Dozens of Republican officials withdrew their endorsements in the days that followed.
His response: “I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.” He called it “locker room banter.” A year later The New York Times reported he had privately suggested the tape was not authentic.
HuffPost and CNN
Barack Obama
MARCH 2009
“It was like the Special Olympics or something.”
On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, joking about his 129 bowling score. Disability advocates objected.
His response: he phoned Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver from Air Force One to apologize before the show even aired, and invited the athletes to the White House.
NBC News and Disability Scoop
Donald Trump
AUGUST 2017
“You also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
Discussing the Charlottesville, Virginia rally, where a counter protester was killed by a white supremacist who drove into a crowd. Former KKK leader David Duke praised his remarks.
His response: he later said he was referring to people protesting the removal of Confederate statues, not neo Nazis or white nationalists, whom he said “should be condemned totally.”
Axios
Barack Obama
JULY 2009
“The Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.”
At a press conference, about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his own front door. Police unions said the president had judged the officer without the facts.
His response: “I could have calibrated those words differently.” He phoned Sgt. James Crowley and had him and Gates to the White House for a beer.
CNN and NPR
Donald Trump
JANUARY 2018
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
In a bipartisan White House meeting on immigration, referring to Haiti and African nations. ReportedSen. Dick Durbin, who was present, confirmed hearing it. Trump denied using that language.
NBC News
Barack Obama
OCTOBER 2010
“We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us.”
On Univision radio, urging Latino voters to turn out in the midterms. Republicans said the president had called his opponents enemies.
His response: he said he should have used the word “opponents” instead of “enemies.”
CBS News and NPR
Donald Trump
JULY 2019
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
On Twitter, about four congresswomen of color. Three were born in the U.S.; Rep. Ilhan Omar arrived as a refugee at age 12. The House voted 240 to 187 to condemn the remarks as racist.
Al Jazeera
Barack Obama
MARCH 2012
“This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.”
To Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul, on an open microphone, about missile defense. Medvedev answered, “I will transmit this information to Vladimir.” Mitt Romney called it “alarming and troubling” and House Speaker John Boehner said he was alarmed.
His response: he said arms control talks could not move in an election year and he was only stating the obvious about timing, not hiding a plan.
ABC News and NBC News
Donald Trump
JULY 2019
“Cumming District is a disgusting rat and rodent infested mess… A very dangerous & filthy place.”
On Twitter, attacking Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Black congressman whose Baltimore district is majority Black, after Cummings criticized conditions at border detention facilities.
Democracy in Color
Barack Obama
JULY 2012
“Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
At a rally in Roanoke, Virginia. The Romney campaign ran it as an attack on business owners, and it became a convention theme.
His response: he said “that” meant the roads, bridges and the American system, not the business: “Of course Americans build their own businesses.” FactCheck.org and PolitiFact read the full transcript and agreed the line was cut short of its meaning.
FactCheck.org and PolitiFact
Donald Trump
JANUARY 2021
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”
On a recorded hour long call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, after losing the state. Georgia had counted three times and found no such votes. The call became part of the Fulton County indictment in August 2023.
His response: he has called it a “perfect” phone call and said he was raising legitimate concerns about fraud.
The Washington Post, transcript and audio and NPR
Barack Obama
SEPTEMBER 2012
“There are going to be bumps in the road.”
On 60 Minutes, about unrest across the Middle East, less than two weeks after the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi, Libya. Romney said the president did not grasp that “we had an ambassador assassinated.”
His response: the White House called the criticism “desperate and offensive” and said he was describing the region’s transformation, not the deaths.
NPR and ABC News
Barack Obama
APRIL 2013
“She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general in the country.”
At a fundraiser in California, introducing Attorney General Kamala Harris. Critics said it reduced a working woman to her looks.
His response: he phoned Harris that night to apologize. The White House said he did not want to diminish her professional accomplishments.
NPR and The Washington Post
Donald Trump
DECEMBER 2025
Called Rep. Ilhan Omar “garbage” and said Somalis should “go back to where they came from.”
At the end of a Cabinet meeting, during a tirade about Minnesota’s Somali community. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter called the comments racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic.
NBC News
Barack Obama
NOVEMBER 2013
“If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.”
Said dozens of times from 2009 on, selling the Affordable Care Act. In the fall of 2013 millions of people got cancellation notices for plans that did not meet the new rules. PolitiFact named it the Lie of the Year.
His response: “I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me.”
PolitiFact and NBC News
Donald Trump
APRIL 2026
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
On Truth Social, April 7, hours before his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, alongside threats to strike Iran’s infrastructure. Pope Leo XIV called the threat “truly unacceptable.” A two week ceasefire was announced soon after.
His response: “I’m fine with it.” He said the post brought Iran to the negotiating table and that he was referring to Iran’s military.
The Hill and Time
Barack Obama
JANUARY 2014
“If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.”
To The New Yorker, answering a question about al Qaeda flags flying over Fallujah after ISIS took the city. Seven months later ISIS held Mosul and a third of Iraq.
His response: “I wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL.” PolitiFact, FactCheck.org and The Washington Post read the transcript and found the question was about ISIS.
PolitiFact and The Washington Post
Barack Obama
FEBRUARY 2015
“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”
At the National Prayer Breakfast, after condemning ISIS. Many Christians heard their faith set beside a terror group; Rush Limbaugh said it insulted all Christians. Others, including Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore, thanked him.
His response: no apology. The point, he said in the same speech, was humility: “this is not unique to one group or one religion.”
The Washington Post and the full remarks
Barack Obama
OCTOBER 2024
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
To Black men at a Harris campaign office in Pittsburgh, saying the lack of energy “seems to be more pronounced with the brothers.” Some Black voters said they were offended at being lectured.
NPR and CNN
Donald Trump
DECEMBER 2023
“They’re poisoning the blood of our country.”
Speaking about immigrants at a campaign rally. Historians and critics compared the phrase to Nazi rhetoric about racial purity. He repeated it at later events.
Axios
Donald Trump
SEPTEMBER 2024
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats.”
During the presidential debate, about Haitian immigrants living legally in Springfield, Ohio. The city’s mayor, its city manager, and Ohio’s Republican governor said there was no evidence. Springfield received bomb threats in the days that followed.
Global News and CBS News
Fifteen for each man, chosen by an AI under one instruction for both: the worst on the record, the ones critics cite most, the ones that drew apologies, walk backs or a news cycle. I did not pick and choose. Every quote is on record, from video, transcripts, or the man’s own posts, except the one marked Reported, where a senator in the room confirmed it and Trump denied it. Both sides of that are stated. Where a man answered his critics, his answer is printed under the quote, in his words, not mine. Where fact checkers weighed the answer, that is printed too, for both men.