Obama attacks Trump at Cleveland rally over cost of living and Iran war

A rally in Cleveland

Former US president Barack Obama spoke on Saturday, 24 October, at a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio, his first appearance on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections. The 65-year-old Democrat used the event to back his party's candidates and to press voters before the vote on 3 November. He remains popular with the Democratic base, and he is putting his weight behind the party's candidates in the coming contests. Early voting had already started in Ohio, an industrial state in the north of the country, so Obama urged people to cast their ballots as soon as possible. He told supporters not to put things off and not to avoid their responsibility.

Attacks on Trump's record

Obama described the second Trump term as two years of chaos, cruelty, corruption and incompetence, a level of incompetence he said the country had not seen in modern times. He argued that the administration is directly responsible for the rising cost of living, rejecting the idea that factors beyond a president's control were to blame in this case. He also criticized the decision to take the United States into a war with Iran, which he said was economically painful and unwanted by Americans. Without always naming Trump, he referred to him as the man in the White House and said no president had shown such skill at blatant deception and at using power for personal gain. Obama also mocked Trump's preoccupation with renovating the White House, suggesting he should host a show on HGTV, the American channel devoted to home decoration, and ridiculed his fixation on gold decorative details inside the building.

Ohio and Michigan races

In Ohio, former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown is trying to return to the Senate and faces Republican John Husted. Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy are competing for the governorship. Polls give Democrats a slight lead in both contests, which remain evenly balanced. Obama also criticized a campaign advertisement by Ramaswamy, arguing it was a clear example of how political debate in the US has declined. After Cleveland, he is due to speak in Detroit, Michigan, backing Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a 41-year-old epidemiologist and physician from the left wing of the party. Democrats currently hold both of Michigan's Senate seats, but polls show El-Sayed in a close race with Republican Mike Rogers.

What comes next

The Detroit speech will be Obama's next stop after Cleveland, and the Michigan race is one of the Senate contests he is backing before the 3 November vote. Ohio's Senate and governor contests are also decided on that date. Obama's message to voters was that they should act now rather than wait. Both states' races remain evenly balanced in the polls, so the turnout push he described will matter in the final days of the campaign.