Barack Obama attacks Donald Trump at Joe Biden Michigan rally

3.4k

View
comments

Barack Obama mocked President Donald Trump for not getting enough attention and acting ‘phony macho’ during a pair of campaign appearances for Joe Biden Saturday.

The former president made took several shots at his successor that are sure to raise Trump’s ire, including poking fun at the president’s obsession with crowds.

‘Does he have nothing better to worry about?,’ Obama said during a drive-in rally in Detroit. ‘Did no one come to his birthday party when he was a kid? Was he traumatized?’

‘Is Fox News not giving him enough attention?’ he added as the crowd roared.

And he took a swipe at Trump’s image. The president calls himself the ‘law and order’ president but Obama called him ‘phony.’

‘You know when I hear this this kind of phony macho, you know, acting tough, smiling all the time, that’s not that’s not what it used to be, to be a man a father, a leader, you didn’t go around bragging all the time, you didn’t go around putting other people down. And Joe understands that,’ Obama said.

Obama and Biden made their first joint appearance of the campaign in Michigan on Saturday, a must-win state for Democrats who are seeking to restore the ‘blue wall’ of the Midwest. It includes Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – states that traditionally voted for Democrats but that Trump won in 2016, putting him in the White House.

First they appeared in Flint where they both spoke in a high school parking lot, earning a rage tweet from Air Force One as Trump flew between his first and second rallies in Pennsylvania.   

Then the two stopped for an unannounced address to Democratic volunteers in the affluent Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, before the rally in Detroit’s Belle Isle Casino, with Stevie Wonder performing as the warm-up act.

‘Guess what Mr President, I’m coming for you,’ Biden said to cheers from the crowd in Detroit.

Obama, meanwhile, accused Trump of not caring about his supporters by holding massive rallies during the coronavirus pandemic in which more than 9 million Americans have been affected.

‘Some of the places he’s holding rallies have seen new spikes after he leaves. He’s going around having events, big events, no masks, no protective gear, no precautions,’ Obama said of the president’s rallies.

He even took aim at Trump’s border wall, which was the president’s main promise of the 2016 campaign.

‘This administration was building a wall to keep us in by bungling this pandemic,’ he said.

The former president spoke at drive-in rallies where people honked and cheered from the cars. The Biden campaign requires supporters to wear masks and socially distance, unlike the Trump campaign, which packs in supporters and lets them choose whether or not to cover their face.

‘There was just a study by Stanford University, that just came out, showing thousands of people are likely to have gotten sick because of these rallies he’s holding. What is his obsession, by the way, with crowd size,’ he said. ‘He’s always worried that this is the one measure he has of success. He’s still worried about his inauguration proud being smaller than mine. It really bugs him he talked about, he’s still talking about.’

The Stanford University study that Obama referred to examined the impact of 18 Trump rallies held between June 20 and Sept. 30 by comparing spread of the virus after each rally to parts of the country that didn’t have such events.

It found that Trump’s rallies may have caused some 30,000 coronavirus infections and more than 700 deaths.

Obama pivoted between getting in attacks at Trump and pointing out the differences between the president and Biden.

‘Trump only cares about feeding his ego. Joe cares about keeping you safe and your family safe and getting this country moving again,’ he said.

‘This is not a game. This is not a contest of just calling each other names. This is not a sporting event. This is life or death,’ he said.

‘I understand this is a president who wants full credit for the account economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic he ignored. But the job doesn’t work that way,’ he added.

Obama was greeted with honks, shouts and cheers from the Detroit crowd, where he and Stevie Wonder joined Biden for a campaign rally.

He could do no wrong – even halfway through his remarks when his microphone went off.

‘The mic needs Obamacare,’ one supporter yelled as the former president waited for it to be fixed.

He also interacted with the crowd while he waited. When one asked him where Michelle Obama was, he responded: ‘Michelle’s at home, she says hi.’

Obama has stepped up his appearances for Biden in the run up to the election. He’ll be in Georgia on Monday.

‘We miss you,’ yelled one supporter in Detroit.

‘I miss you too. That’s why I came back,’ Obama said in response.

He made it clear what was at stake on November 3.

‘Three days Detroit. Three days until the most important election of our lifetimes,’ he said. ‘And that includes mine, which was pretty important.’  

Biden, meanwhile, mocked Trump for his hair and for calling himself a ‘stable genius.’

‘He is a, I think he said, perfect, physical specimen,’ he said. He went on to poke fun at Trump for writing off $70,000 for his hair in his taxes.

‘Maybe that’s why he thought he was able to write off $70,000 on his taxes on a special haircare person,’ Biden said.

‘I hardly have any hair, but I’ll tell you what man, I’d rather have what I have,’ he added. 

The speeches came in Detroit after Obama came out swinging earlier against Trump in his first joint appearance with Joe Biden on the campaign trail, in Flint, Michigan.

Biden came running out to meet Obama after the former president introduced him to the crowd as the cars at the drive-in rally honked and supporters cheered. He wore a black face mask he removed to speak to the crowd.

Obama and Biden attempted to maintain social distancing during their event, but came close at the end even leaning in like they were going to bump elbows, but Biden reached over to pat Obama’s shoulder instead. The two stood next to each other as they waved to the crowd.

Obama was wearing his face mask but Biden had forgotten his. He had taken it off to speak and returned to the podium to put it on so the two could walk off stage together.

As they walked back into the building behind the rally location, Obama gave Biden a pat on the back.

Obama used his speech to tear into Trump – while Biden sought to use the feel-good nostalgia for Democrats evoked by Obama when he spoke. 

‘It kind of reminds you how good it can be, doesn’t it, listening to him,’ Biden said. ‘It reminds me of when we can be when you have a president of character, a president respected around the world.’

In his speech the former president attacked his successor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, claimed Trump wants to let America get COVID, mocked his obsession with crowd size, called his policies ‘racist,’ and said Trump would lose people’s jobs. ‘They’re trying to bamboozle you,’ Obama warned the crowd in Flint of the Trump administration.

After the two spoke they caught up in the high school gym at the venue – where Obama took a basketball and dropped a three-pointer from the right of the court and walked off, taking off his mask to grin and say: ‘That’s what I do.’

Trump himself was starting a four-rally swing across Pennsylvania as Obama spoke, with a small rally in Newtown in the east of the state before three more events in the state, which he sees as critical to his path to a second term.

He tweeted angrily from Air Force One in response, blaming Obama and Biden for poisoned water in Flint, saying the notorious contamination happened ‘on their watch.’ 

In fact the lead poisoning happened when an emergency city manager appointed by Republican Rick Snyder switched the city’s water supply to water from Lake Huron, introducing lead into the supply at dangerous levels. 

But Snyder, who apologized repeatedly for the crisis, is endorsing Biden. 

In his speech Obama mentioned his wife Michelle, one of the most popular Democrats in the country, and said they agreed it would be a relief to no longer have to think about Trump.

‘This is a big benefit. Michelle and I were talking about this over dinner the other day, you’re not gonna have to think about them every day. You’re not gonna have to argue with your family about him every day. It won’t be so exhausting,’ he said.

Obama, in his introduction of Biden, touted his strength of character, giving a personal description of his former vice president.

‘Joe Biden is my brother. I love Joe Biden and he will be a great president,’ he said.

‘That sense of decency and empathy. The belief in hard work and family and faith, the belief that everybody counts, that’s who Joe is,’ Obama said.

‘I can tell you that the presidency doesn’t change who you are. It shows who you are,’ he said.

He attacked Trump’s leadership, saying it led to racism in the country and brought out the worst in people.

‘There are consequences to his actions. This is not just a joke. It’s not funny, those actions embolden other people to be mean and defensive and racist,’ Obama said.

Obama then pivoted to attack President Donald Trump, using the attack lines he has dropped in his previous appearances for Biden in Pennsylvania and Florida.

‘You know, I said this before – I never thought Donald Trump would embrace my vision, I understood he didn’t agree with my policies, but I did hope for the country’s sake that he might show some interest in the job,’ he said.

‘He hasn’t shown any interest in doing the work, or helping anybody but himself and his friends, or treating the presidency as anything more than a reality show to give him the attention that he craves,’ he said.

He attacked Trump’s handling of the coronavirus’ pandemic, an area where voters have given Trump low marks.

‘COVID COVID COVID – he’s complaining. He’s jealous of COVID media coverage,’ he said as coronavirus cases are on the rise across the country, hitting more than 9 million infections.

‘And now he’s accusing doctors of profiting off this pandemic. Think about that. He said this just yesterday said doctors are overblowing it because they’re gonna make money off, doctors, he cannot fathom. He does not understand the notion that somebody would risk their life to save others without trying to make a buck,’ he said.

‘Now they might as well be saying let America get COVID,’ Obama said of the Trump administration.

‘Cases wouldn’t be reaching new record highs across the country, some of the places he owes rallies have even seen new spikes after he leaves town,’ he said.

He mocked President Trump’s obsession with crowd size and the president’s repeated claim the crowds at his inauguration were bigger than the crowds at Obama’s, despite photo comparisons showing differently.

‘What is his obsession, by the way, with crowd size?,’ he said. ‘He’s always worried that this is the one measure he has of success.’

‘He’s still worried about his inauguration proud being smaller than mine. It really bugs him. He’s still talking about that,’ he said. ‘Does he have nothing better to worry about? Did no one come to his birthday party when he was a kid? Was he traumatized?’

Obama attacked Trump’s handling of the crisis and compared it to what Biden would do.

‘Tweeting it the TV doesn’t fix things, making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better,’ he said.

‘You gotta have a plan. You’ve got to put in the work,’ he said. ‘And along with the experience to get things done, Joe Biden has concrete plans and policies that will turn our vision of a better fairer stronger country into reality.’

He pointed out he and Biden fought for the auto industry – which is huge in Michigan – during the economic recession. He said Trump has lost manufacturing jobs.

‘The economic damage inflicted by botching the pandemic response means he’ll be the only president since Herbert Hoover, to actually lose jobs,’ Obama said of Trump. ‘Herbert Hoover. That’s a long time ago.’

The crowd greeted Obama with cheers and shouts.

‘Three days Flint. Three days until the most important election of your lifetime,’ Obama said in his remarks before Biden joined him on stage.

‘All jobs are on the line our health care is on the line whether or not we get this pandemic under control is on the line,’ he said.

‘I love your masks,’ Obama told the crowd, who yelled out they loved him.

Biden in his speech compared life in America under Obama to life in America under Trump.

‘You went through eight years without one single trace of scandal, not one single traces scandal,’ he told Obama.

He also addressed fears among some Democrats that Trump would use legal cases to try and stop mail-in ballots from being counted.

‘I don’t care how hard Donald Trump tries. There’s nothing – let me say it again – there’s nothing that he can do to stop the people in this nation from voting in overwhelming numbers and taking back this democracy,’ Biden said.

Biden, talking about President Trump claiming, falsely, that doctors make more money when patients die from COVID-19, said: ‘What in the hell is wrong with this man? Excuse my language.’

‘That may have been there because he doesn’t do anything for other than for money,’ he added.

‘I will never raise the white flag of surrender. We’re gonna beat this virus or we’re gonna get it under control. And the first step to doing that is beating Donald Trump,’ he said.

He said Trump likes to portray himself as a ‘macho man’ but ‘when’s the last time you heard about a president of the United States literally being laughed at by world leaders.’

He called Trump Vladimir Putin’s ‘puppy’ and seemed to indicate he’d like to have punched Trump if they had been in high school together.

‘When you were in high school wouldn’t you have liked to take a shot?,’ he said.

He also listed the long line of retired members of the military who have endorsed him.

‘We have to support our military and get rid of Trump,’ he said.

After the Flint event, the two men drove to Detroit – about 90 minutes away – for their next rally.

On the way, Obama and Biden stopped in Bloomfield Hills, one of Detroit’s wealthiest suburbs and the former home of Aretha Franklin, on their way to a drive-in rally with Stevie Wonder in Detroit.

They addressed a canvass kickoff Birmingham Unitarian Church, where about three dozen people were socially distanced outside in the church parking lot, in front of a series of tables set up with canvassing materials.

Obama thanked them.

‘This kind of grassroots work and organizing makes all the difference, especially in an election like this, with the stakes so high. We know change is possible, but it’s not guaranteed,’ he said.

Biden said volunteers can make or break a campaign.

‘It makes a gigantic difference, your volunteering. That’s how you win campaigns, every campaign that I’ve ever been in that I’ve won it’s been the folks who’ve been doing everything from making the phone calls, to sending out the petitions to knocking on doors,’ he said. ‘I mean you make a gigantic difference.’

Obama and Biden are holding drive-in rallies in Flint and Detroit, predominantly black cities where strong turnout will be key for a Biden victory on November 3. R&B legend Stevie Wonder will join them in Detroit.

Michigan remains a top target for Biden as he seeks to rebuild the Democrats’ ‘blue wall’ in the Midwest, which includes Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Obama won those three states in his presidential bids but they went for Trump in 2016, handing him the White House.

Biden leads Trump in Michigan by 6.5 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls in the state.

Trump will be in Michigan on Saturday and Sunday for multiple campaign stops. He’ll hold his final rally of the campaign in Grand Rapids, as he did in 2016.

Early voting is already underway in Michigan. As of Tuesday, more than 3.1 million voters have requested absentee ballots and about 2.1 million had returned them, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office.

‘There’ll be nothing’: Donald Trump says Joe Biden will take away Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter to combat COVID in the first of his four rallies in critical Pennsylvania

President Donald Trump kicked off the first of four rallies in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Saturday with an attack on his Democratic rival Joe Biden, accusing him of championing policies that took jobs from the state.

A smaller than normal crowd greeted the president in muddy field in Newton, Pennsylvania.

‘Three days from now this is the state that will save the American dream,’ he announced to his supporters. ‘I am going to be here all day today.’

Trump wasted no time going after Biden, accusing him of betraying the people of Pennsylvania – the state where Biden was born.

He said Biden ‘wiped out Pennsylvania steel,’ was a ‘cheerleader’ for NAFTA, championed for China to join the World Trade Organization.

‘In Pennsylvania you lost 50% of your manufacturing jobs after those Biden disasters,’ the president told the crowd.

He said a vote for Biden would be a vote to end fracking, one of the major industries in Pennsylvania.

‘A vote for Biden is a vote to ban fracking, and to send your state into a nightmare of poverty and depression. That’s what’s going to happen. It’s your single biggest industry by far – probably a million jobs one way or the other,’ he warned.

Biden said he doesn’t want to ban fracking, although he wouldn’t allow it on federal land. He seeks to end federal subsidies for oil production while spurring development of renewable energy.

‘If Biden wins there will be no fracking no oil, no natural gas, no jobs and no future,’ he said. 

He added that Biden backed the Paris Climate Accord, which he called an ‘economic nightmare for Pennsylvania miners. And every worker in our country. He backed TPP which would have extinguished the American auto industry.’ 

He claimed ‘these betrayals’ made ‘his family rich.’

‘He profited from the misery of unleashed work in horror given to Pennsylvania workers,’ Trump said of Biden. ‘He made a lot of money and his family made a lot of money, and nobody, and nobody knew about it until just recently.’

He also brought up Biden’s only surviving son, Hunter, accusing Hunter Biden of making millions off the family name. 

‘Where’s Hunter,’ Trump said, bringing up his favorite campaign line.

The president talked about his packed campaign schedule, but misstated the number of rallies he’s doing Saturday. He has four rallies on Saturday and ten more over the next two days.

‘We’re doing three rallies, tomorrow we’re doing five and the smallest crowd will be 25,000,’ Trump predicted.

‘On Monday, we’re doing five or six. And I can tell you what’s going to happen. I think we’ll just go home and rest,’ he said.

The president stressed to the crowd one of his arguments that voters gave him high marks for in 2016 – that his wealth makes him independent and beholden to no one.

‘I don’t answer to the special interests,’ he said. ‘I don’t take instructions from donors and lobbyists. I don’t care about them. I don’t care about them.’

‘I do what’s right for America. It’s made me a lot of enemies in Washington,’ he added.

Trump also defended his work on the coronavirus pandemic as the number of infections reached over 9 million. Cases are on the rise in Pennsylvania and other parts of the Midwest.

‘We moved heaven and earth to produce the vaccine ahead of schedule and manufacture hundreds of millions of doses in advance already to be shipped. We have our military is going to be shipping, logistics, we have a general that’s what he knows he delivers troops, this is, this is easy,’ he said.

Trump had previously predicted a vaccine would be available by the election or before the end of the year but it’s unclear when one will be ready.

Voters have given the president low marks for his handling of COVID.

But Trump claims he kept the number of deaths from being higher.

‘It’s the most advanced medical operation, anywhere in the world in history. Thanks to the therapies we’ve accelerated, we have already reduced the mortality rate,’ he said.

He attacked Biden’s handling of the swine flu, which hit the country when Biden was vice president.

‘He had his chance with the H1N1 and the swine flu, which was a disaster,’ he said.

He accused Biden of only have ‘COVID, COVID’ to talk about.

‘I watched Joe Biden speak yesterday. All he does is talk about COVID COVID. He’s got nothing else to say – COVID COVID COVID. We all agree and serious and we’ve done an incredible job. And at some point, they’re going to recognize that,’ Trump said.

He said Biden’s plan to combat COVID would kill the economy. Trump is making a strong economy the central argument for a second term.

‘That’s his only plan – to make you a prisoner in your home, a prisoner in your own country. Under the Biden lockdown, the recovery will be totally kill economy will crash country can’t afford,’ he said. 

‘There’ll be no school. There’ll be no graduation. There’ll be no weddings, no Thanksgiving stuff, no Christmas, no Easters, no Fourth of Julys. There’ll be nothing. We’ll be nothing,’ he said of life under a Biden presidency. 

‘We will never lock down again,’ Trump vowed.

He also warned the crowd that Biden would allow liberals to dominate his cabinet, take away their guns and control policy. 

‘Joe Biden would appoint the most radical left wing candidate in history. Beto O’Rourke will be in charge of gun confiscation. Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren will be in charge of the United States Treasury according to what they said. AOC plus three will run the climate policy,’ he said in reference to liberal Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

‘Representative Ilhan Omar will be running Homeland Security,’ he claimed. ‘She’s going to be guarding our border.’

Biden leads Trump by 3.7 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average of the state.  

Trump is holding four rallies in the key battleground state on Saturday in an attempt to repeat his 2016 victory when he became the first Republican presidential candidate in more than 20 years to win Pennsylvania.

But he carried the state – where Biden was born – by less than a point and Democrats want it back in their corner. 

Both candidates are putting their focus on Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes in the final days before November 3. 

First lady Melania Trump will hold a rally in Wapwallopen Saturday evening.  Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump will hold separate events there on Sunday. And President Trump will campaign in Biden’s hometown of Scranton on Monday.

The Biden campaign is sending its full ticket there on Monday. Joe and Jill Biden along with Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff will barnstorm the state the day before the election. 

Kamala Harris headlines Miami drive-in party with Chef Jose Andres and rapper Fat Joe – with a pro-Trump crasher yelling ‘Where’s Hunter?’ at the VP nominee

Sen. Kamala Harris was the main attraction at a Miami drive-in party Saturday that featured hours of music and special appearances by Chef Jose Andres and rapper Fat Joe. 

The Democratic vice presidential nominee hit President Donald Trump on his record on race, immigration and climate change, as she bounced around the stage wearing high-top Chuck Taylors, with ‘2020’ written on the side of them.   

 ‘We deserve better,’ she said. ‘You measure a person’s strength not by who they beat down, but who they lift up.’  

At one point near the end of her remarks, a man wearing his mask wrong revealed himself to be a Trump supporters and started yelling, ‘Where’s Hunter?’ at the vice presidential nominee, a reference to Joe Biden’s son and his controversial business dealings. 

He held up a ‘Rioters & Looters for Biden’ sign. 

He was escorted out by campaign aides – as the crowd honked over his yells. 

Harris was spending all of Saturday in the Sunshine State as Floridians can still early vote until Sunday at 7 p.m. 

Polls show the presidential race in Florida extremely close.  

Harris used the unique set-up that the Democrats have been using to prevent the spread of COVID-19, taking a page from old school drive-in movie theaters,to her advantage – using the car horns for call-and-response. 

‘Honk if you know somebody with diabetes,’ she said, as she made the argument that she and Democratic nominee Joe Biden would protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.  

When supporters started honking at her reference of the late Rep. John Lewis, she chimed in, ‘I know he hears you. I know he hears you.’ 

The honks grew the loudest when she talked about ‘Black Lives Matter’ and reuniting the migrant kids, who were separated from their parents due to a Trump administration policy, with their families.   

Prior to the California senator’s arrival, the rally site had turned into a Halloween morning dance party.   

Sergeant First Class Paul Cruz, who introduced Harris, spelled it out, ‘It’s not just a city, it’s a vibe.’ 

‘And that’s why Sen. Harris is back here in the 305,’ he said, name-dropping the area’s famous area code. 

Fat Joe, the politically active rapper, was a surprise guest.      

‘Everybody needs to get out there and vote,’ he told the crowd. 

‘Let me tell you what happened four years ago, the media was saying that Hillary Clinton was winning by a landslide. And so people who would’ve voted said, ‘Why should I go vote, Donald Trump’s not going to win,” the rapper said. ‘Don’t believe the polls, don’t believe nothing nobody says.

‘You’ve got to go out there and vote,’ he repeated. 

Chef Jose Andres, who’s been in legal battles against Trump and has hammered him for his rhetoric on immigration, was the second special guest. 

‘It is time to break down the walls and build longer tables,’ Andres said. 

While many of the restaurants in his empire are in Washington, D.C., he also owns The Bazaar on Miami’s South Beach.   

Earlier in the morning, a musician was playing Afro-Caribbean versions of famous songs, including Katy Perry’s ‘Roar,’ a top song on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 playlist.  

One supporter danced around with gold ’46’ balloons, another held up a giant cut-out of Harris’ head. 

A group of Alpha Kappa Alpha sisters showed up in their trademark pink and green garb. 

There was a dance performance. 

A Mariachi band tried winding through the cars, but campaign aides asked them to remain in one section of the parking lot.  

Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell gave a quick speech. 

A couple people were in partial Halloween costumes. 

Campaign workers had to shoo people away from the stage, instructing them to stick close to their cars and wear their masks.