President Obama Slams Donald Trump Over Sultry Slow Jams on ‘The Tonight Show’

By Sameer Rao Jun 10, 2016

President Barack Obama unleashed an epic dig at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during his first appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" last night (June 9). 

Obama participated in the show’s recurring "Slow Jam The News" bit, which features house band The Roots and Fallon turning major headlines into absurd quiet storm-style slow jams. When Fallon asked Obama if he followed news concerning Trump this week, the president responded by saying, "No, but I have been watching my new favorite show: ‘Orange is Not The New Black.’" Ouch. 

Following that segment, Fallon and Obama sat down for an extended interview. They covered topics as disparate as the election, Obama’s post-presidential plans, his daughters and his old Blackberry phone. The president also reiterated a message from his Howard University commencement address about compromise in democracy:

We have to recognize that democracy means that you don’t get everything you want, when you want it, all the time. This is something you’re teaching your three-year-old, but somehow, Congress sometimes doesn’t get it. Sometimes in our politics, we expect to get everything. And this is a big, complicated, diverse country. And we’ve got to be able to talk to each other and listen, and occasionally compromise. 

Obama also commented on the election, calling the Democrats’ contested primary "a healthy thing" and his hope that the Republican Party "get[s] back to being a center-right party" after November. His appearance concluded with another recurring bit called "Thank You Notes."

President Obama first appeared on "The Tonight Show" in 2009, when it was hosted by Jay Leno, and made history as the first sitting president to appear on a late-night talk show. Obama, Fallon and The Roots previously "slow-jammed the news" when Fallon hosted "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."