Snowden, who in 2013 blew the lid on the NSA's massive covert surveillance program, recently appeared on camera via live stream to talk about privacy in an event hosted by StartPage.

Naturally, the topic of Donald Trump came up a few times. At one point Snowden was asked, "if the outcome [of the election] was better or worse for your case." (I presume the question was referring to Snowden's prospect of receiving a presidential pardon.)  

Snowden deflected the part of the question that spoke to a possible pardon, saying the election was not about him. But as he continued his response got interesting.

After criticizing the authoritarian tone of the campaign, Snowden said people should stop focusing so much on presidents.