Overview

• Speaking in London with historian David Olusoga during a European tour, Obama used the O2 Arena event to assess leadership and public discourse.
• Obama said that 80 percent of the world’s problems involve old men hanging on to power and seeking significance.
• He called President Trump’s suggestion of a link between paracetamol (Tylenol) use and autism “violence against the truth,” noting such claims have been repeatedly disproven.
• He cautioned that the misinformation can harm public health by alarming pregnant women and parents, as UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting urged women to ignore Trump’s advice.
• Framing a broader struggle over America’s direction, Obama contrasted democratic reforms with what he described as his successor’s push toward a narrower, more exclusionary worldview.