Obama critic John Grisham on Donald Trump: 'In retrospect, Obama looks awfully damn good'
'I was never a big Obama fan, but as a person, I think he's wonderful'
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Your support makes all the difference.Bestselling author John Grisham, who was vocal in his criticism of Barack Obama during his presidency, has confessed that in light of the "suffering" Donald Trump has produced, he misses the 44th President of the United States.
Grisham, the man behind page-turners like The Pelican Brief and The Firm, which have been turned into Hollywood films, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I was never a big Obama fan - as a person, I think he's wonderful - as a politician I thought he was ill-prepared, [but] in retrospect he looks awfully damn good. Compared to what we're suffering through now he looks wonderful.
"That's nostalgia talking but he's far better than Trump and we miss him."
As for whether he thinks Trump will get re-elected in 2020, he said: "I certainly hope not, but I never thought he'd be there to begin with."
Grisham lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was shocked by the recent violence there.
"We're still stunned, those people were not from Charlottesville. They chose our lovely little college town as their battlefield. Why do we get the black eye?"
Asked whether he thought the removal of Confederate statues would help defuse the situation, however, he suggested an alternative.
"I don't like the idea of taking down historical monuments because I don't think one generation has a right to view history differently.
"The monuments tell only one side of a conflict; I think there should be other monuments next to the Confederate monuments that tell the rest of the story."
Grisham released his 31st novel and 25th legal thriller on 24 October, The Rooster Bar.
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