President Trump and former President Barack Obama came out swinging, tossing insults and trading verbal jabs as the two party leaders jousted for control of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Mr. Obama aimed some of his sharpest remarks ever at Mr. Trump during campaign rallies in Ohio and Michigan, where the Senate races are a dead heat and could decide whether Democrats seize control of Congress in January.
Mr. Obama accused Mr. Trump and his administration of “straight-up grifting” and raising the cost of living through tariffs and the Iran war. He also got personal, ridiculing Mr. Trump for the gilded decor he installed in the White House and comparing it to the palace of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
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Mr. Trump punched back at Mr. Obama, mocking his “sparse” crowd size compared with his own rally in Michigan on Sunday.
In a 1 a.m. social media post, Mr. Trump called the former president “grossly incompetent” and accused him of providing Iran with a path toward a nuclear weapon.
Both presidents campaigned in battleground states over the weekend to throw out final pitches — and punches — ahead of elections in which control of both the Senate and House is up for grabs.
Mr. Trump has poured hundreds of millions of dollars from his super PAC, MAGA Inc., into the battleground races. He said his rally Sunday in Michigan was his 26th campaign event in 12 days for Republican candidates.
He told the crowd Mr. El-Sayed would impose socialist policies, halt Mr. Trump’s tax cuts and end policies Mr. Trump put into place that have eliminated illegal immigration and reduced crime.
“Please show up and vote, because essentially we are all on the ballot. Because they’ll take away everything,” Mr. Trump said.
Democrats are increasingly favored to win the House majority. Control of the Senate is a toss-up.
Polls show Republican Senate incumbents are threatened in Ohio, Maine, Texas, Iowa, Alaska and Kansas as Mr. Trump’s low approval ratings and voter frustration with the high cost of living drag down the Republican ticket.
Mr. Trump campaigned Sunday in Port Huron, Michigan, for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who is locked in a tight race with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. It is the Democratic Senate seat Republicans have the most realistic chance at flipping, polls show.
Mr. Trump belittled Mr. Obama’s crowd size, saying his turnout was far bigger.
“You know, my competitor was here yesterday. He didn’t have a crowd like this, I can tell you,” Mr. Trump said. “They use the word sparse. It was sparse. This is not sparse. You know, outside, you have 20,000 people trying to get in.”
In his social media post, Mr. Trump blasted Mr. Obama for taking the stage with Mr. El-Sayed, calling him “a Muslim Brotherhood Jihadist, who hates Jews and Blacks and AMERICANS and TRUMP.”
At the Port Huron rally, Mr. Trump accused Mr. El-Sayed and his family of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist organizations, which Mr. El-Sayed has denied.
“Anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane. They certainly should not give him a seat in the United States Senate,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Obama campaigned for Mr. El-Sayed on Saturday in Detroit. He also headlined a rally Saturday in Cleveland for Senate candidate Sherrod Brown and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton.
He portrayed the attacks on Mr. El-Sayed as Republican scare tactics.
“They are running scary ads to make you think Democrats are radicals, communists, jihadists or the woke police. What is radical about wanting everybody to have healthcare? How is that radical?” Mr. Obama said in Detroit.
The former president also delivered a searing attack on Mr. Trump. He mocked members of Mr. Trump’s administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and former ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, who resigned Oct. 13 over corruption allegations.
Mr. Obama said Mr. Trump’s legacy is “10 years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, tomfoolery [and] nonsense the likes of which this country hasn’t seen in modern times.”
The former president even savaged his successor over renovations to the White House.
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. Gold everywhere,” Mr. Obama said.
In Georgia, Mr. Trump fired back during a rally for Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican who is trailing in the Senate race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
The president told the audience in Perry that Mr. Obama had not drawn a big crowd in Detroit.
“The place was empty,” Mr. Trump said. He dinged Mr. Obama’s economic policies while promoting the manufacturing jobs he has created in his second term through tariffs.
“So remember when Barack Hussein Obama used to say that there will be no manufacturing? So, he was wrong,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Obama’s 2012 remarks that some manufacturing jobs “aren’t going to come back” because of the “global economy.”
The president announced at the rally that Audi would be building its first-ever manufacturing plant near Fort Valley, Georgia, about 20 miles from Macon. The $4.2 billion project will bring about 4,500 jobs to the area.
“Without tariffs, they would not be coming in,” Mr. Trump told the crowd.
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