Former US president Barack Obama launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump during campaign rallies in Ohio and Michigan on Saturday, accusing his successor’s administration of driving up living costs and making damaging decisions ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
Obama appeared at the rallies to support Democratic candidates as the party seeks to regain control of one or both chambers of Congress, currently controlled by Trump’s Republicans.
The 65-year-old former president, who remains popular among Democratic voters, blamed the Trump administration for rising living costs amid soaring fuel prices.
“The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions,” Obama said in Ohio, where he campaigned for former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown.
“Most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for,” he added.
Speaking in Cleveland, Obama also criticised the administration’s record, declaring: “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in the modern era, you get a chance to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ We are voting for change right here in Ohio.”
Obama later travelled to Michigan to campaign for Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate from the Democratic Party’s left wing who is facing Republican Mike Rogers in a closely contested US Senate race.
He also praised the prospect of El-Sayed working alongside incumbent Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin, who is not seeking re-election this year.
“Imagine the power duo of Abdul and Elissa,” Obama said.
“You got a Muslim man, you got a Jewish woman fighting for you in the United States Senate. That’s something, Michigan, you can be proud of.”
Obama urged voters to cast their ballots early, noting that early voting was already underway in both states.
“Don’t procrastinate, don’t equivocate,” he told supporters.
In Ohio, Brown is seeking to return to the Senate by challenging incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted. The gubernatorial race will see Democrat Amy Acton face Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, a former 2024 presidential candidate.
Polling in Ohio has shown Democrats with narrow leads in both contests, although the races are expected to be close.
Obama also mocked Trump’s renovation projects in the US capital, including work on the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool, the construction of a large White House ballroom and the gold-coloured decorations added to the Oval Office during Trump’s second term.
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said, referring to the popular American restaurant chain.
National polling also suggests Democrats could regain control of the House of Representatives, while the Senate race remains more competitive.
