Obama midterm rallies in Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan, saw former President Barack Obama campaign for Democrats on Saturday. He attacked Donald Trump on corruption, Iran and tariffs, ten days before the November 3 midterm elections, according to Al Jazeera and the Straits Times.
Obama said Trump "chose to make a series of bad decisions" and started "an unnecessary war that nobody asked for" against Iran, according to Al Jazeera. He also said tariffs mean "consumers pay the tab" and cited a federal debt of $40 trillion. Al Jazeera notes that this figure is total federal debt rather than the annual deficit.
Obama framed the November 3 vote as a "circuit breaker" that could "at least rein in some of the foolishness" of Trump’s presidency, according to the Straits Times. Obama, president from 2009 until 2017, remains one of the most popular figures among Democrats. The party hopes he can energise supporters in a tight Michigan Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers.
Obama also defended the 2015 nuclear agreement, which restricted Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. He said the deal "kept them from getting nukes" and that he "didn’t have to fire a missile to do it," according to Al Jazeera.
Trump responded on Sunday in a Truth Social post, calling Obama "incompetent" and saying Obama "paid off Iran with $Billions," according to Dawn. Dawn also reported that Trump said the deal "gave them a road to a Nuclear Weapon." Trump called El-Sayed a "Fake Doctor" and urged voters to back Rogers.
Before the war, a fifth of global oil and gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and disruptions there have pushed up energy prices, according to Al Jazeera.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the Straits Times. Neither Rogers nor El-Sayed responded in the sources reviewed. Al Jazeera’s full text was truncated, so some of its later remarks could not be checked. Several details of the rallies rely on a single outlet.
Voters go to the polls on November 3 in Ohio and Michigan, both of which hold Senate and gubernatorial races.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.