Obama rips Trump’s ‘vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities’

President Obama usually strikes a joking tone when talking about the 2016 Republican presidential race. Not today.

“I know I’m not the only one in this room who may be more than a little dismayed at what’s happening on the campaign trail lately,” Obama said during a St. Patrick’s Day luncheon on Capitol Hill.

While the president did not mention Donald Trump by name, his comments were clearly aimed at the GOP frontrunner.

“We have vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities and Americans who don’t look like us or pray like us or vote like we do,” Obama said.

While the president was critical of what the candidates are saying, he also called out demonstrators who forced Trump to cancel a rally last week in Chicago.

“We’ve seen misguided attempts to shut down that speech, however offensive it may be,” Obama said. “We live in a country where free speech is one of the most important rights that we hold.”

“In response to those attempts, we’ve seen actual violence,” Obama continued. “And we’ve heard silence from too many of our leaders.”

The president said while the Republican candidates bear much of the blame for the volatile climate, there’s plenty to go around.

“Too often, we’ve accepted this as somehow the new normal,” Obama said. “And it’s worth asking ourselves what each of us may have done to contribute to this kind of vicious atmosphere in our politics.”

The tenor of Obama’s comments was in stark contrast to Friday, when he gave a roast-like assessment of the Republican primary.

"We’ve got a debate inside the other party that is fantasy and schoolyard taunts and selling stuff like it’s the Home Shopping Network,” Obama during a speech in Austin. “I mean, imagine what Trump would say if he had a record like this, instead of selling steaks.”

“And you got the Republican establishment, they are very exercised, ‘We are shocked, that somebody would be saying these things,’” Obama said. “How can you be shocked? This is the guy, remember, who was sure that I was born in Kenya.”