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Former United States President Barack Obama has launched a staggering attack on the current U.S. President Donald Trump accusing him of beign divisive and "deliberately trying to make folks angry".

After staying away from much of the public fray and politics since he left office in January, Obama finally broke his silence while campaigning for fellow Democrat Ralph Northam who is the Democratic candidate for the gubernatorial elections in Virginia.

While declaring his support for Northam, Obama used the opportunity to address the current state of America. Although he did not mention Trump by name, this has by far being his most vocal since leaving office and he certainly left no stones unturned.

"You'll notice I haven't been commenting a lot on politics lately," Obama told thousands of supporters in Richmond. "But here's one thing I know: if you have to win a campaign by dividing people, you're not going to be able to govern them. You won't be able to unite them later if that's how you start."

"Instead of our politics reflecting our values, we've got politics infecting our communities," said Obama, looking relaxed in a tieless blue shirt and suit. "Instead of looking for ways to work together to get things done in a practical way, we've got folks who are deliberately trying to make folks angry, to demonise people who have different ideas, to get the base all riled up because it provides a short term tactical advantage."

He continued: "The question now, at a time when our politics seem so divided and so angry and so nasty, is whether we can recapture that spirit, whether we support and embrace somebody who wants to bring people together," Obama said. "Yes, we can."

The former U.S. president said: "If we're going to talk about our history then we should do it in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds, not in a way that divides. We shouldn't use the most painful parts of our history just to score political points. We saw what happened in Charlottesville but we also saw what happened after Charlottesville when the biggest gatherings of all rejected fear and rejected hate and the decency and goodwill of the American people came out.

"That's how we rise. We don't rise up by repeating the past. We rise up by learning from the past and listening to each other."