By Michael Townsend

January 31, 2017 was a historic day. Via his aides, Barack Obama became the first American president since Theodore Roosevelt to openly criticize his successor. With the recent executive orders signed by the President, this could not have come at a better time.

Obama specifically focused on Trump’s immigration ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries, finding it to be a violation of the American values he upheld during his administration. A spokesman for Obama said that the 44th president “fundamentally disagrees” with religious discrimination. Although the Trump administration has repeatedly denied that the ban is targeted at Muslims, the ban specifically focuses on Muslim areas and Trump has suggested that he will make exceptions for Christian refugees. Therefore, there are reasonable grounds to determine that the ban is designed to be a big problem for the Islamic people, especially Syrian Muslim refugees fleeing the terrifying civil war in their country.

While Obama has clearly broken a tradition, in a world like this sometimes traditions have to be broken. Trump has sent shock waves of fear and uncertainty through his unpredictability and his refusal to communicate with the press, which is supposed to subject him to the scrutiny that all Presidents should face. Trump, a political outsider, has shown signs that he is either trying to change the rules of the game or simply doesn’t know what he’s doing. For a credible world leader like Obama to offer his opinions toward the current administration is a necessary step in ensuring that the country does not go awry with any bizarre moves on behalf of the Trump administration.

Trump’s immigration ban could have severe consequences that are counterproductive to his expressed motive of reducing the terrorist threat in the Middle East. For one, terrorist groups like ISIS now have evidence that could be used as propaganda in turning the Islamic Middle East population against the United States. Also, the military of Iran, in clear defiance of the nuclear agreement designed to keep the world out of a  nuclear war, was seen testing ballistic missiles in what appears to be a warning towards the US. The religious discrimination aspect of the ban has already been addressed by our allies, who perceive the ban as breaking the values that the civilized world has held so dear for so long.

Obama, on the other hand, showed himself to be a foreign policy guru during his administration. In 2011, Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC. The Obama administration was central to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the invasions of which were seen as unjust and counterproductive to defeating terrorism. Obama improved diplomacy with Cuba, following a half-century devoid of communication, and opened a trade partnership with Asian countries (which Trump has already done away with). Obama is definitely a trustworthy critic for the actions of the Trump administration that affect the world around us.

Obama’s breaking of silence should be a huge eye-opener towards those who still doubt that Trump is an incompetent president. The tumultuous past week has been disastrous news for everyone, and scary enough that a former president has dared to break a century-old tradition. To you, the common American, this should be a sign that you need to pay attention to the actions of Trump and the consequences that ensue.