Obama says Trump using racist names for coronavirus 'pi**es him off'

Barack Obama has reportedly said that the constant anti-China sentiment that Donald Trump has used during the coronavirus pandemic 'pi**es him off.'

In a piece published by the New York Timesabout Obama's return to the campaign trail to help his friend and former vice president Joe Biden win November's election.

An anecdote from the article reportedly comes from a private fundraiser for Biden which took place on Thursday where Obama bemoaned the type of language that Trump has used to describe Covid-19 such as 'China virus' and 'kung-flu.' In regards to this Obama said:

I don’t want a country in which the president of the United States is actively trying to promote anti-Asian sentiment and thinks it’s funny. I don’t want that. That still shocks and pisses me off.

Trump has been widely criticised for using what many have branded as racist slogans when talking about coronavirus, for which he has routinely attempted to blame China for allowing it to spread around the world. Trump's press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany has attempted to defend the president's words claiming that the White House doesn't believe that 'kung flu' is racist.

In May, the president stormed out of a press conference after he told Weijia Jiang, a Chinese-American reporter to "ask China" after she questioned why so many Americans are still dying.

According to the New York Times, Obama had been so determined to avoid saying Trump's name in 2016 that he would jokingly refer to his aides as 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' which is the name that some wizards give Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise. In addition, after meeting Trump in 2016, Obama told his aides "he has no idea what he's doing."

It remains to be seen how much influence Obama will have on this election but if all his lines are going to be as good as this then bring it on...