TUCSON \u2014 Former president Barack Obama further sharpened his criticism of Donald Trump at a rally Friday, casting the Republican nominee as a huckster who lacks the mental fitness to lead the nation, leaning into a strategy of withering mockery as he hits the campaign trail in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
With just over two weeks until Election Day, Obama spoke to a crowd the Harris campaign estimated at 7,000 people, who packed onto the turf field inside the University of Arizona\u2019s football practice facility the night before the school\u2019s hotly anticipated homecoming game. The Tucson rally was Obama\u2019s first stop in a six-day, five-state whirlwind tour of the election\u2019s fiercest battlegrounds.<\/p>\n
The speaking spree underscores Obama\u2019s evolving role in the presidential campaign\u2019s waning days: from Harris\u2019s trusted behind-the scenes sounding board and fundraising powerhouse, to a visible and vocal presence on the trail itself.<\/p>\n
In his recent remarks \u2014 including Friday\u2019s \u2014 Obama has assumed a distinct tone that few others could pull off, leaning on his experience, credibility and popularity, speaking in increasingly direct terms as he criticizes Trump and exhorts fellow Democrats.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would be worried if your grandpa was acting like this,\u201d Obama said of Trump\u2019s bizarre town hall appearance this week in which he stopped taking questions and instead swayed to music onstage for more than half an hour. \u201cTucson, we do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails.\u201d<\/p>\n
The speech continued Obama\u2019s tactic of needling Trump where he\u2019s most sensitive, an apparent effort to get under the Republican nominee\u2019s skin and throw him off message. Obama\u2019s prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention in August, for instance, was memorable for a suggestive barb about Trump\u2019s obsession with \u201ccrowd sizes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Arizona, Obama continued to workshop his critiques of Trump, sometimes assuming the tone of a stand-up comedian as he riffed on the Republican former president\u2019s mental fitness and penchant for selling self-branded wares.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he\u2019s not complaining, he\u2019s trying to sell you stuff,\u201d Obama said, grinning as the crowd laughed. \u201cThis is my favorite: He\u2019s got the Trump Bible \u2014 wants you to buy the word of God, Donald Trump edition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Obama walked the crowd up to his real punchline: The Bibles, he noted, were printed in China.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Mr. Tough Guy on China, except when he can make a few bucks hawking his Trump edition Bibles,\u201d Obama said. \u201cYou can\u2019t make this stuff up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attendees embraced Obama\u2019s new tone, with some saying it was refreshing to hear their side criticize Trump in a more direct, personal way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m enjoying that,\u201d said Barbara Mosley, a retired teacher and Arizona native. \u201cWhen he was president, he kind of held back, and you could tell. To me, I was like, \u2018Why don\u2019t you just spit it out?\u2019 So I\u2019m happy he\u2019s doing that now.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Obama has also had some blunt words for voters, and he has caught some criticism for it. In Pittsburgh last week, Obama made headlines when he admonished Black men who were hesitant to vote for Harris because they \u201cjust aren\u2019t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Marco Ruiz, a retired Tucson school administrator, the comments didn\u2019t sit right. They felt too scolding, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his intent is always good, but I don\u2019t really approve of that approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But his wife, Thelma Ruiz, had a different take: Tough but fair.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s going to get people off their couch, I think it\u2019s great. I think they need it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Before the Friday rally, Obama and Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate, met with a small group of male Latino voters, encouraging them to support Harris, who is trailing Trump in Arizona among young and middle-aged Latino men, according to a recent poll from USA Today and Suffolk University.<\/p>\n
The meeting was private, and at the rally Obama opted for a more generalized and moderate version of the reproach, addressing any man who sees strength in Trump\u2019s \u201cbullying and putting people down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here to tell you that\u2019s not what real strength is,\u201d Obama said, as he urged Arizonans to vote early.<\/p>\n
The race in the state has tightened significantly since President Joe Biden dropped out in July, and The Washington Post\u2019s polling average now shows Trump hanging onto a razor-thin lead. Biden won Arizona narrowly in 2020 and in 2022, a slate of Democrats prevailed in the contests for the state\u2019s top offices.<\/p>\n
This year, in addition to reprising its role as a key swing state, Arizona could also prove decisive in the battle for control of Congress. Gallego is running for Senate against Republican Kari Lake, who lost her gubernatorial bid two years ago, and there are several consequential House races throughout the state.<\/p>\n
Voters also will decide whether to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state\u2019s constitution, and Democrats hope that the issue will energize one of the country\u2019s most purple electorates. Speaker after speaker at the Friday rally invoked reproductive rights and stressed that this year could be a historically close election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue of abortion access is very much on the ballot,\u201d Kirsten Engel, a Democrat who is running to represent Arizona\u2019s 6th Congressional District, said in an interview before the rally. \u201cThat is what I\u2019m hearing at the doors I\u2019m knocking on, women being very upset at their freedoms being taken away from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The race for the southeast Arizona district \u2014 a rematch of 2022 \u2014 is especially competitive. \u201cThis is a battleground district in a battleground state,\u201d Engel said.<\/p>\n
Obama is the latest high-profile Democrat to visit Arizona, as the party puts on a full-court press with fewer than 20 days left in the race. Harris has stopped by twice in the past month, vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz was here last week and former president Bill Clinton \u2014 the last Democrat until Biden to win the state \u2014 is scheduled to visit Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have likewise made recent trips to the state and Vance is scheduled to return next week.<\/p>\n
After Arizona, Obama is heading to Las Vegas on Saturday; Detroit and Madison, Wis., on Tuesday; and to Georgia on Thursday, where he\u2019ll make his first joint appearance with Harris in a yet-to-be-announced city.<\/p>\n
The two have been allies and friends for 20 years. In his August convention speech, Obama explicitly cast Harris as the successor in his political movement, saying then: \u201cNow the torch has been passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2008, Harris \u2014 then the district attorney in San Francisco \u2014 traveled to Iowa to knock on doors for Obama ahead of the state\u2019s caucuses. Obama has been eager to return the favor.<\/p>\n
His former aides have previously told The Post that he is relishing the rallies, which give him the chance to speak freely and act as an outlet for the anxiety he feels about the prospect of another Trump presidency.<\/p>\n
On Friday, he appeared to be having fun. After some customary college football talk \u2014 \u201cDon\u2019t bet against the Wildcats tomorrow,\u201d he said \u2014 Obama paused to clear his throat.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys have to forgive me, because let\u2019s face it, I\u2019m a little out of practice,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cBut that\u2019s okay, because what I have to say is going to make so much sense that even if I\u2019m coughing a little bit, you\u2019re still going to catch what I\u2019m saying here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
TUCSON \u2014 Former president Barack Obama further sharpened his criticism of Donald Trump at a rally Friday, casting the Republican nominee as a huckster who lacks the mental fitness to lead the nation, leaning into a strategy of withering mockery as he hits the campaign trail in support of Vice President Kamala Harris. With just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}