Donald Trump treats race as an ‘infomercial’

US President Barack Obama on Monday blasted Republican nominee Donald Trump saying he treats the Presidential race as an “infomercial” and shows no interest in gaining “rudimentary knowledge” required to make “hard decisions” on the job.

Mr Obama, who arrived in the city on Sunday for his final UN General Assembly session, addressed about 65 people at a fundraiser hosted by restaurateur Danny Meyer and his wife, here.

Calling Mr Trump, 70, as the “other guy” in the election, Mr Obama reiterated that the New York billionaire is not qualified to be President of the US and slammed him for not showing any interest in gaining knowledge required to make tough decisions on a daily basis in the White House.

“This guy is not qualified to be President. And he shows no interest in even gaining the rudimentary knowledge required to make really hard decisions on a day-to-day basis. There’s no curiosity, there’s no desire to get up to speed. It’s an infomercial. It’s a reality show,” Obama said.

He called it disturbing that Mr Trump’s race for the White House is “tapping into some of our worst impulses as a country — ones that divide us rather than bring us together; ones that seek to put down people who have been historically vulnerable as opposed to lifting them up”. Mr Obama lauded Ms Clinton for her “unerring” judgement, experience and discipline in every job that she has had, saying he is “absolutely confident” she will be a “great President”. “I will also say that there’s a reason why we haven’t had a woman President; that we as a society still grapple with what it means to see powerful women. And it still troubles us, unfairly, and that expresses itself in all sorts of ways,” he said.