Former United States President Barack Obama, on Thursday, October 10, 2024, lashed out at his successor, Donald Trump, as he brought his star power to the 2024 election campaign trail for the first time.
Obama, however, urged voters to back Vice President and Democrat candidate Kamala Harris
As he hit the stump in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, Obama also chided Black male voters for what he called hesitancy in supporting Harris because they “just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president”.
Obama, America’s first Black president, trained his fire on Trump during a pumped-up rally in Pittsburgh, comparing the Republican’s long speeches to late Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro’s and calling the billionaire out of touch with ordinary people.
The former president admitted that “this election’s going to be tight” as many voters were still struggling with high prices.
But he told the crowd that “what I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up”, adding: “You think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?”
The popular Democrat called Trump’s schemes to sell bibles as “crazy” and used the same word to describe the 78-year-old former president’s embrace of conspiracy theories.
As the crowd booed Trump, his successor in the White House, Obama added: “Don’t boo – vote.
“Kamala is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been.”
Harris’s campaign said Obama’s appearance, the first in a series in battleground states before the November 5 election, was designed to get people out to vote in crucial Pennsylvania.
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Earlier, in a surprise stop before the rally at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh, Obama made an unusually direct appeal to Black men, whose support polls show Harris has struggled to mobilise.
Harris was in battleground Nevada for a town hall hosted by the Spanish language network Univision Thursday and later spoke at a rally in Arizona aimed at reaching out to Latino voters.
When a woman asked Harris at the town hall to name three of Trump’s virtues, she replied: “I think Donald Trump loves his family, and I think that’s very important, But I don’t really know him, to be honest with you. I don’t have much more to offer you.”
In Arizona, Harris addressed the devastation caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida, saying the federal government “has mobilised thousands of personnel” to recover and rebuild the region.
Trump was in the hotly contested state of Michigan on Thursday, unveiling new details of his protectionist plans for the US auto industry, including sweeping tariffs on vehicles not made in America.
Trump also ramped up his personal attacks on Harris, branding her “dumber than hell,” and assailed the auto industry capital Detroit itself as run down as he was speaking to the city’s economic club.
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“Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president,” AFP quoted Trump as saying.
Harris meanwhile said she had accepted an offer for a CNN town hall on October 23 in Pennsylvania, after Trump turned down a final televised debate with her.
“I think it’s a disservice to the voters. I also think it’s a pretty weak move,” Harris said in Arizona about Trump rejecting a second debate.
Democrats are hoping Obama could give Harris a boost in a race that has been locked with Trump for weeks, after her initial boost in the polls after she took over from President Joe Biden as the party’s nominee in July.
Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama delivered rapturously received speeches backing Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August.
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