“What concerns me more,” the former president continued, “is a federal government that threatens universities if they refuse to hand over students for exercising their free speech rights.”

He added, “I am more troubled by the idea that a White House can say to law firms, ‘If you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively.’”

Then came a pointed eight-word reflection: “Imagine if I had done any of this?”

Obama claimed it would be “unimaginable” for the same political figures who are now silent to have accepted this kind of behavior had it come from him or past presidents.

However, he emphasized that the responsibility for change doesn’t lie with one person alone.

“It is up to all of us to fix this. It’s not going to be because somebody comes and saves you. The most important office in this democracy is the citizen, the ordinary person who says, no, that’s not right.”

He also suggested that the erosion of democratic ideals may have occurred because people became “comfortable and complacent.”

Trump, invoking his IEEPA powers, has defended the tariffs, claiming they will push Americans to choose domestic products over foreign alternatives.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said.

The 10 percent tariff on all foreign goods took effect on April 5.

Meanwhile, the higher, targeted tariffs on nations with the largest trade deficits with the US will begin on April 9 at 12:01 AM EDT.

According to a White House statement, the tariffs will remain active until Trump decides that the “threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated.”