US President Barack Obama’s half brother has said that he would vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump in the presidential election this November.
Trump is “down-to-earth” and “cool”, but Barack Obama has neglected his family since taking office in 2009, Malik Obama told reporters by phone from the western Kenyan village of Kogelo, President Obama’s ancestral home.
Malik Obama, born in Hawaii, has dual citizenship. He said he has voted in US elections since the 1980s.
“This Trump guy is a really cool guy. He appeals to me and also I think that he is down-to-earth and he speaks from the heart and he is not trying to be politically correct. He’s just straightforward. It is not like someone is prompting him,” said Malik.
He also praised Trump’s emphasis on national security, saying: “Trump is so much concerned about security and he wants to make America great.”
He said Trump’s stance against Muslims coming to the US was understandable.
“I’m a Muslim, of course, but you can’t have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam,” he said.
Malik, who was also the best man at Barack Obama’s wedding, accused his sibling for not having done more for his Kenyan families and the African country.
Last year President Obama paid his first visit to Kenya, but did not visit his extended family in Kogelo.
“This is the time we need him most, not when he is out of the White House,” said Malik.
“I still love my brother, but it still baffles me that when he came to Kenya he told us that he can’t associate too much with family back home just because he is the president of the United States. It does not make any sense at all,” he added.
