WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is using a unity luncheon with Irish leaders and U.S. lawmakers to call for civility in politics.
Obama says he’s “more than a little dismayed” at the vulgar comments and violence happening on the presidential campaign trail, and that too many leaders have been silent about what’s going on.
He says while some may bear more of the blame for the climate, everyone bears responsibility for reversing it.
Obama apparently was referring to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Trump’s political rivals and others blame him for sowing division, rather than unity, across the country. Trump says he’s done no such thing and calls himself a “uniter.” Protesters forced Trump to cancel a rally Friday in Chicago.
Obama spoke at a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon at the Capitol.