NEW YORK: President Barack Obama is these days mak­ing attempts to ease Democrats’ jitters over the prospect of Republican Don­ald Trump’s entry into the White House.

“One of you pulled me aside, and squeezed me hard, and said, ‘tell me that Mr Trump is not succeeding you’,” Obama told Democratic donors in Los Angeles, according to USA Today.

“And I said, ‘Mr Trump is not succeeding me’,” Obama said.

The president said that Trump and his closest Republican rival, Ted Cruz, were actually performing a public service: “Laying bare unvarnished some of the nonsense that we’ve been dealing with in Congress on a daily basis,” the USA Today quoted the president as saying.

While the president has not endorsed in the Democratic race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, he has become increasingly vocal about Trump, Cruz and other Republicans.

Speaking at the fund-raiser to benefit the Democratic congressional campaign committee, Obama compared Repu­blican congressional candidates with Trump and Cruz.

“People act as if these folks are outliers — but they’re not,” Obama said.

“Listen to radio, watch their interviews. Look at how they operate in town halls. They’re saying stuff that’s just as wacky as what we’re hearing out of the presidential candidates.”

And so, he added, “we should thank Mr Trump and Mr Cruz for just being honest”, the USA Today reported.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2016