“We are paying for the lack of seriousness” of members of President Donald Trump’s administration, former U.S. President Barack Obama said Saturday in Detroit. He spoke at a rally in support of Democrats, including Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in the midterm elections.
On Nov. 3, Americans will vote in elections for the U.S. Congress (the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate) as well as for state officials. The race for a Senate seat from Michigan is drawing particular interest from the American public. Obama visited the state, which borders Canada, on Saturday, and Trump is due to appear there Sunday. At Saturday’s rally, the former president urged voters to cast their ballots for Abdul El-Sayed, while Trump will back Republican Mike Rogers.
In his speech, the former Democratic president accused Trump of having “made a series of bad decisions,” and he named starting the war with Iran as the most serious of them.
“Of course, Iran didn’t have a nuclear weapon. We had curbed its nuclear program because I made a deal that, as everyone acknowledged, kept Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. I didn’t have to fire a single missile. I bet on diplomacy,” Obama added, referring to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (the JCPOA). Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from it in 2018.
According to Obama, Iran’s strategic position is stronger today than before the war began because of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. “That’s a decision made by this administration. And that’s exactly why the prices of oil, diesel and practically everything else have gone up. And the war hasn’t ended,” Obama continued. “These are not serious people, and we are paying for their lack of seriousness,” the former president added.
Obama said the tariffs imposed by Trump also contribute to rising prices in the U.S. He noted that this matters in a place like Michigan, home to the auto industry.
“And the strangest thing is that on tariffs and trade wars, he is most uncompromising toward that notorious evil empire, Canada. Our historic enemy!” Obama said ironically.
“Does anyone really think this guy spends a lot of time deeply thinking about these problems?” Obama mocked, adding that Trump is absorbed in renovating and redecorating. “They’re building a ballroom bigger than the White House, he also paved over the Rose Garden, put in a helicopter landing pad, and on top of that there’s gold everywhere. What’s the deal with the gold?! Seriously, he decorated the White House as if Saddam Hussein had opened a pastry shop,” Obama said. He also accused Trump of being most interested in increasing his own wealth.
El-Sayed, for his part, stressed that his opponent in the election is not just Rogers but “a system that allows big tech companies, oil companies, pharmaceutical companies and big banks to buy politicians and rig the rules of the game against everyone else.”
“As if simply living in Trump’s America weren’t hard enough already, now (Trump) is coming here to remind us of it,” he added, appealing to voters to remember that a vote for Rogers is equivalent to a vote for Trump’s policies.
In conversations with PAP, rally attendees praised El-Sayed’s proposals, especially those on universal health care.
“I support him because he has a vision for the country that is much broader and more open to everyone than what Republicans seem to be offering right now. His vision of universal health care could help many people get free of debt and of constantly paying for a system that doesn’t provide everything they deserve and should be entitled to,” Lars Coventry told PAP.
“I can’t wait for him to sit across from (Health Secretary) RFK Jr. and confront him with all the health care problems he has caused in our country,” said Maggie De Bono, a member of the Democratic Party caucus in the city of Novi.
“El-Sayed is very well educated and guided by reason. Our current administration is irrational and acts in a toxic way. That’s why Abdul is like the medicine this country needs right now,” said another PAP interviewee, Donald Martin.
“Abdul is progressive, but he is not a radical. His policies focus on the issues that matter most to ordinary people, on their everyday needs. Not more guns, more wars,” the interviewee continued. “In Trump’s time we have seen how fragile our democracy is,” he added.
He also addressed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. “I thought the war in Ukraine would last a month. I thought it was a chance to bring Putin down. (…) Poland is on the front line. Trump is completely at Putin’s service,” the man said, speaking in favor of tough sanctions on Russia.
“I support everything (El-Sayed) is doing for public schools in Black communities that struggle with underfunding. He also wants to address the problem of maternal mortality among Black women. I’m grateful to him for that,” said Nicole Austin of Macomb County, praising the candidate.
Another rally attendee, who gave his name as Nick, admitted that he likes the candidate’s proposals, “but it’s also about removing Republicans from power and not letting them take control of it again.”
PAP asked Tim Holland of Grassroot Midwest, a Michigan political consulting firm, whether endorsements of candidates by presidents can translate into better election results.
The expert is not convinced that Trump’s involvement in Rogers’ campaign matters to voters at this point. “Most people who voted for Trump before will vote for Rogers anyway. I don’t think Rogers will gain new independent voters thanks to this endorsement,” he added. In his view, Trump is no longer as popular as he once was, even among Republican voters.
“Of course, Trump won elections in Michigan before. But those were voters who showed up regularly to vote and supported him in particular. This time Trump is not on the ballot. And rising living costs don’t help Rogers,” added Holland, who spent several years in various positions in the Michigan House of Representatives.
“On the other hand, (…) Obama has proven that he can attract independent voters. That’s why I think his endorsement can help Abdul a great deal,” he said.
Holland also stressed that both parties are now trying above all to reach undecided voters. In his view, young people could decide the outcome of the election in Michigan.
“Abdul is betting heavily on mobilizing them and encouraging them to vote. Of course, that carries some risk, because young people are usually not among the groups that turn out in the largest numbers on Election Day,” the PAP interviewee concluded.
From Detroit, Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)