President Obama Chides The GOP On Jimmy Fallon

The president of the United States sat down with funnyman Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Wednesday for a talk about the election, Bernie Sanders, and the direction that the country is going in. The interview is set to air late on Thursday, June 9, but you can check out a preview now. Obama shared some harsh truths with Fallon about the GOP, and praised members of his own party for participating in an energetic and groundbreaking primary contest.

First, the positives from this election, as seen by the POTUS: “I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas. And he pushed the party and challenged them." Obama also credits the energy brought by Sanders and his supporters with making Hillary Clinton stronger. "I thought it made Hillary a better candidate,” he confided to Fallon.

But when it comes to the elephant in the room — the fact that many Sanders supporters are livid with the former secretary of state for, in their eyes, prematurely proclaiming herself the Democratic nominee — President Obama doesn't seem to be all that worried about the potential for a chaotic contested convention: "I think we’re gonna have a great convention, and we’ll do well.”

When Fallon asked the president about his thoughts on the future of the GOP, however, the conversation took on a serious tone. With former reality show host Donald Trump the sole remaining contender actively campaigning in the party's primary, Obama got real: “The truth is, actually, I am worried about the Republican Party." Breaking it down further, he said: “You want the Republican nominee to be somebody who could do the job if they win. And you want folks who understand the issues. And where you can sit across the table from them and you have a principled argument."

Obama closed out his thoughts on the future of the GOP with some analysis, and a bit of a warning for members in his own party: “What’s happened in that party culminating in this current nomination, I think, is not actually good for the country as a whole. It’s not something Democrats should wish for.” His statement is a subtle nudge to remind members of his own party that pageantry and demagoguery may be par for the course in American politics, but too much can have destructive consequences, if left unchecked.