Former President Barack Obama issued a call to action for Democrats at a private fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday evening, urging those frustrated by the state of the country under President Donald Trump to “stand up for the things that you think are right.”

“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser, according to excerpts of his remarks exclusively obtained by CNN.

“You know, don’t tell me you’re a Democrat, but you’re kind of disappointed right now, so you’re not doing anything. No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something,” he said. “Don’t say that you care deeply about free speech and then you’re quiet. No, you stand up for free speech when it’s hard. When somebody says something that you don’t like, but you still say, ‘You know what, that person has the right to speak.’ … What’s needed now is courage.”

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Obama’s comments come as the Democratic Party searches for its path forward in the second Trump term and beyond. Many in the party’s base have called for a more forceful response from Democratic leaders at a time when the party is locked out of power.

As Democrats debate who should lead the party, Obama encouraged them to channel their energy into the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, saying the off-year elections could be “a big jumpstart for where we need to go.”

“Stop looking for the quick fix. Stop looking for the messiah. You have great candidates running races right now. Support those candidates,” Obama said, calling out the New Jersey and Virginia elections, according to the excerpts of his remarks.

“Make sure that the DNC has what it needs to compete in what will be a more data-driven, more social media-driven cycle, which will cost some money and expertise and time,” he continued.

Obama spoke at a private fundraiser hosted by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife, Tammy Murphy, at their home in Red Bank, New Jersey. The intimate dinner drew in $2.5 million through in-person and online donations for the Democratic National Committee, a source familiar with the event said.

A portion of the haul will be allocated to Democratic efforts in the governor’s race in New Jersey. The Democratic nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and and DNC Chair Ken Martin were on hand for the event.

Obama described Sherrill and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor in Virginia, as “powerful spokespersons for a pragmatic, commonsense desire to help people and who both have remarkable track records of service.”

“The most important thing you can do right now is to help the team, our candidate to win,” he said. “And we’ve got to start building up our coffers in the DNC.”

Obama also argued that Democrats need to focus on how to “deliver for people,” acknowledging the different views within the party about how best to do that.

“There’s been, I gather, some argument between the left of the party and people who are promoting the quote-unquote abundance agenda. Listen, those things are not contradictory. You want to deliver for people and make their lives better? You got to figure out how to do it,” he said.

“I don’t care how much you love working people. They can’t afford a house because all the rules in your state make it prohibitive to build. And zoning prevents multifamily structures because of NIMBY,” he said, referring to “not in my backyard” views. “I don’t want to know your ideology, because you can’t build anything. It does not matter.”

Obama has spoken selectively since Trump’s return to power in January. He has criticized the president’s tariff policy and warned the White House was infringing on Americans’ rights. Last month, Obama warned the country was “dangerously close” to a more autocratic government.

At the closed-press fundraiser on Friday, the former president said he has not been “surprised by what Trump’s done” or that “there are no more guardrails within the Republican Party.” He repeated his calls for institutions, including law firms and universities, to push back on intimidation efforts by the Trump administration.

“What’s being asked of us is make some effort to stand up for the things that you think are right. And be willing to be a little bit uncomfortable in defense of your values. And in defense of the country. And in defense of the world that you want to leave to your children and your grandchildren,” he said. “And if we all do that, if we do our jobs over the next year and a half, then I think we will rebuild momentum and we will position ourselves to get this country moving in the direction it should.”

Barack and Michelle Obama Finally Address Divorce Rumors in Joint Interview

“She took me back! It was touch and go for a while.”

Barack and Michelle Obama know all about the rumors surrounding them and their marriage—and their only response is to laugh them off. The former president made his long-awaited appearance on his wife’s podcast, IMO, which she shares with her brother Craig Robinson. During the episode, the couple took a light-hearted approach to the rumors that they were headed for divorce.

“This is the episode that everyone’s been waiting for with bated breath,” Craig said as he introduced Barack, “because we have my brother-in-law, your husband, the former president of the United States.”

Michelle chimed in, “He made time in his busy schedule to come on. We are honored.”

Craig couldn’t resist throwing in a joke about the “rumor mill.”

“Wait, you guys like each other?” Craig said sarcastically.

“That’s the rumor mill,” Michelle replied.

Barack joined in on the joke, teasing, “She took me back! It was touch and go for a while.”

Michelle replied, “Now, don’t you start.”

Her brother kept the joke going: “It’s so nice to have you both in the same room.”

Michelle quipped back, “I know, because when we aren’t, folks think we’re divorced.”

People certainly do love to speculate about the former president and former first lady’s relationship. And although Michelle and Barack seem to be able to laugh it off now, it hasn’t always been easy. “People always ask me and Barack, how did we stay hopeful in, not just the eight years that we were in the White House, but beyond?” Michelle said on a previous episode of IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson recorded live at SXSW. “Because, let me tell you, there was a lot of negative energy flipping our way—a lot of rumors, a lot of gossip.” She explained that they managed to get through the rumors by steering clear of online discourse altogether. “Through it all, what kept us sane—and we tried to instill this in our daughters—is, you cannot live through social media,” she said. “I don’t think I have ever once looked at a comment section, period.”

Even though the “rumor mill” has clearly got things wrong about the state of Michelle and Barack’s marriage, the couple have been open about their struggles as a couple. After all, no marriage is perfect.

In April, Barack admitted that he was in what he called a “deep deficit” with Michelle, per the Daily Beast. “So I have been trying to dig myself out of that hole by doing occasionally fun things,” he added.

In May, Michelle spoke about how couples therapy can be beneficial in long-term relationships. “There are so many natural reasons why marriage, infertility [and] trying to have kids makes things difficult,” she said during an appearance on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast. “I try to tell couples, ‘Of course it’s hard. Just listen to what I said, like, if you’re having some issues in your marriage, it’s not you. It’s the process of marriage. It’s just all hard.’”

She added, “If you’re not getting help, talking about it [and] going to therapy, just understanding how things are changing, how do you continuously renegotiate your relationship with your partner?”

Michelle also opened up about why she had missed a number of political events, leaving her husband to attend on his own, adding fuel to the rumor mill fire. As she explained, she was simply making a decision not to attend—and it was something people struggled to understand. “That’s the thing that we as women, I think we struggle with disappointing people. I mean, so much so that this year people were… they couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing,” she said.

She made similar comments a few months later during an appearance on NPR’s Wild Card podcast. “The fact that people don’t see me going out on a date with my husband sparks rumors of the end of our marriage,” Michelle said to host Rachel Martin. “It’s like, ‘Okay, so we don’t Instagram every minute of our lives. We are 60. We’re 60, y’all.’”

“You just are not gonna know what we’re doing every minute of the day,” she added.

Why Barack and Michelle Obama Would Have Had “Difficulty” Raising a Son

The couple shares two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Barack Obama doesn’t think he was cut out to be a boy dad. On the latest episode of his wife Michelle’s “IMO” podcast, the former president explained why having a son would’ve been a challenge.

“I think we did a pretty good job of raising our girls, but I’ve said often that I think I would have had more difficulty raising a son,” Barack said.

“I agree,” Michelle replied.

The couple of over 30 years has two daughters, 27-year-old Malia and Sasha, 24. Barack cited the fact that his own father, Barack Obama Sr., wasn’t present in his life.

“I think I might’ve been more judgmental, harder, and I would’ve tried to—I’d like to think I would have been more self-aware enough to combat that, but I just think father-son relationships, for me, particularly if I don’t have a dad around to show it to me, might’ve been more difficult,” the former president said.

In an Instagram post from 2021, Barack explained their strained relationship in more detail.

“I didn’t really know my father—he left my mother and me when I was two years old, and only traveled from Kenya to visit us once, when I was ten,” Barack wrote in the caption.

“That trip was the first and last I saw of him; after that, I heard from him only through the occasional letter, written on thin blue airmail paper that was preprinted to fold and address without an envelope,” he added.

Did Obama Work in Place of Biden at the White House for 310 Days in 2024?

A viral claim has circulated suggesting that former U.S. President Barack Obama worked at the West Wing of the White House for 310 days in 2024, despite having left office in 2017.

On July 8, the Facebook account “America – Love It Or Leave It” drew attention by posting an image and a claim that Barack Obama had secretly worked at the West Wing of the White House for 310 days throughout 2024, even though he stepped down in 2017.

The post alleged that Obama worked from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, used the nickname “Joe Time,” and was actually the one running the country in 2024 instead of current President Joe Biden.

The source also claimed that Obama earned millions of dollars through his role as an “advisor” during that time.

However, according to a fact-checking report released on July 10 by the verification organization Lead Stories, the entire claim is baseless.

Lead Stories identified the original post as coming from an account operated by Christopher Blair, a figure often referred to as a “king of hoaxes.”

Blair, a resident of Maine, describes himself as having liberal political views and is known for creating websites that post satirical fake news meant to mock those with conservative viewpoints.

In a 2018 article, the BBC referred to Blair as “the godfather of fake news” and identified him as one of the world’s leading creators of false content.

Lead Stories noted that the pages run by Blair often include clear disclaimers indicating the satirical nature of their content.

In addition to these disclaimers, Blair’s posts frequently contain signs indicating they are not real news. For example, he often categorizes them under fictional stories and includes links to humorous or offensive images instead of credible sources.

He also tags his images with an “S” symbol, short for “satire,” to help readers distinguish the content as mockery.

Nonetheless, many of these articles are still copied and spread on foreign websites without the accompanying disclaimers, aimed at drawing in American readers and generating ad revenue.