Obama and Trump Hit the Campaign Trail as US Midterm Elections Near
Former President Barack Obama has hit the campaign trail for Democrats ahead of the United States midterm elections, attacking the Trump administration over the Iran war and high consumer prices.
On Saturday, Obama held a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio, to stump for candidates Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown. Later, he will appear in Detroit to push for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
On the same day, President Donald Trump cast his early ballot in Florida, voting at a polling station in Palm Beach County, even though he once called early voting 'ridiculous'. Later on Saturday he will head to Georgia to hold a rally for Republican candidates.
Early voting has begun ahead of the 3 November election, which will decide which party controls Congress for the rest of Trump's presidency.
Speaking in Cleveland, Obama said that if everything seemed too expensive before Trump, everything is more expensive now. He said he sympathised with voters who in the 2024 presidential election rejected Democrats over economic and inflation concerns following the Covid pandemic.
But Trump has only himself to blame for the current state of the economy, Obama said. He also said the war has given Iran 'veto power' over the Strait of Hormuz, which was open to marine traffic before hostilities began in February.
'This election is our last best chance to at least rein in some of the foolishness of this administration,' Obama said. 'This is a circuit breaker in the system. We need to flip that circuit breaker. We need to start bringing some accountability to this administration.'
When asked about the Iran war on Saturday, Trump said he had done it very effectively and might have to finish it off, or they might make a deal, but he was not sure. Either way, he said, 'we win'.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were casting advance votes in Florida before leaving for the Georgia event. Asked if Melania Trump would visit Ukraine, Trump said 'we will see', after the White House said she had successfully secured a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
At his afternoon rally, Obama also joked about Trump's efforts to renovate the White House, including his taste for golden ornaments, saying the White House looked like Saddam Hussein had opened a Cheesecake Factory.
Obama's trip to Ohio was to show support for ex-Senator Sherrod Brown, who is running to unseat incumbent Republican Senator John Husted, and Amy Acton, who is running for state governor against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.
Obama criticised Ramaswamy for a campaign ad released this week in which Acton's estranged mother was featured calling her a liar. Acton also spoke at the rally to argue that Ramaswamy had chosen to exploit her childhood to save his struggling campaign.
