Barack Obama rallied in Cleveland for Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown. He described Trump’s term as chaos and cruelty.
Former President Barack Obama campaigned in Cleveland on Saturday for Ohio Democrats Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown, criticizing President Donald Trump’s second term and the Republican candidates he is up against in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Obama described the past two years as a period of chaos, cruelty, corruption and incompetence. He mocked Trump’s 2016 pledge to drain the swamp, saying the only thing drained was the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool after a no-bid contract went wrong. He said Trump seemed more focused on home renovations, including the White House ballroom, the Reflecting Pool and gold-heavy decor, than on issues voters care about, and he joked about the White House’s new look. He urged the crowd to see the election as a test of the country’s decency, and he said Americans are not stuck with a spineless Congress and Republican governors who enable lawlessness and cruelty.
He also took aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying the defense secretary seemed focused on the jawlines and testosterone levels of American troops. Hegseth has called the military “low-T” and ordered testosterone screenings for male service members under 30, The Hill reported. Obama linked Hegseth’s priorities to the prolonged Iran war and said the administration was not made up of serious people.
Obama condemned an attack ad by the campaign of Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, against Acton, a former state health director. The ad used Acton’s estranged mother. Obama said character matters and that Ramaswamy lacks character and decency. Brown, a former senator, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Obama was the last Democratic nominee to win Ohio, in 2008 and 2012, in a state that has trended Republican in recent years.
Information for this report was provided by The Hill, CNN, The Daily Beast, Audacy and NewsLooks.