Carlos Barria/Reuters
During a White House press briefing Friday, President Obama offered stern words in response to Donald Trump’s rise to being the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee. “I just want to emphasize the degree to which we are in serious times and this is a really serious job,” Obama said. “This is not entertainment. This is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.” He continued: “What I’m concerned about is the degree to which reporting and information starts emphasizing the spectacle and the circus. Because that’s not something we can afford.” The commander in chief also criticized the media for failing to fact-check Trump when reporting on the candidate’s many controversial proposals: “Every nominee needs to be subject to exacting standards and genuine scrutiny,” he said. “It means that you’ve got to make sure that their budgets add up. It means that if they say they’ve got an answer to a problem, that it is actually plausible, and that they have details for how it would work.”