Obama Unleashes on Trump Privately as He Raises $24 Million for Biden

At fund-raising events where he has pulled in more than $24 million for Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign in the past two months, former President Barack Obama has privately unleashed on President Trump to party donors, bringing up past accusations of Mr. Trump’s “assaulting women” and warning of his efforts to push “nativist, racist, sexist” fears and resentments.

With less than 100 days until the presidential election, Mr. Obama has laid out the stakes of 2020 in forceful fashion. He has urged support for Mr. Biden, his former vice president, while worrying about the state of American democracy itself, even making an oblique reference to Nazi Germany, according to notes made from recordings of Mr. Obama’s remarks, donors and others who have been on the calls.

Even three years out of office, Mr. Obama remains one of the Democratic Party’s biggest draws for giant contributors and small donors alike. A virtual conversation on Tuesday with the actor George Clooney sold out of tickets that ranged from $250 to as much as $250,000. (The biggest donors got access to a small “virtual clutch” with Mr. Obama.)

Donors who have paid six-figure sums to see Mr. Obama on Zoom — he held two other, more intimate, conversations for donors with Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn and a major Democratic donor, and J.B. Pritzker, the billionaire governor of Illinois — have been privy to wide-ranging Q. and A. sessions about the state of politics and unvarnished analysis from the former president.

On Tuesday evening, during the event with Mr. Clooney, Mr. Obama was asked what keeps him up at night these days. He cited fears of voter suppression and an effort by Mr. Trump to question the election’s legitimacy.

Mr. Obama, who has carefully calibrated his public statements since leaving office to avoid being pulled into one-on-one combat with a current president looking for a foil, is considerably more caustic when the cameras are off, according to people who have been on the calls and notes made from recordings.

During his conversation with Mr. Pritzker, Mr. Obama spoke about how Mr. Trump has a core base that “filters out any contradictory information.”

“It’s just glued to Fox News and Breitbart and Limbaugh and just this conservative echo chamber — and so, they’re going to turn out to vote,” Mr. Obama said. “What he has unleashed and what he continues to try to tap into is the fears and anger and resentment of people who, in some cases, really are having a tough time and have seen their prospects, or communities where they left, declining. And Trump tries to tap into that and redirect in nativist, racist, sexist ways.”