Obama slams Trump’s ‘cruelty and corruption’ at Ohio rally for Democrats

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkFormer US President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally at Cleveland Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 24, 2026 [Jeff Swensen/Getty Images via AFP]By AFP and APPublished On 25 Oct 202625 Oct 2026Former United States President Barack Obama has criticised the “cruelty and corruption” during President Donald Trump’s second term.Obama slammed Trump’s foreign policies on Saturday during a midterm election campaign rally in Ohio to support the state’s Democratic candidates.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘Foreign policy is the economy’: How Iran war is shaping US midterm votelist 2 of 3Has Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad against Amy Acton backfired?list 3 of 3How have Democrats’ policies shifted since the last major US election?end of list“The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions,” the 65-year-old Democrat said. “Most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for,” he added, referring to the US-Israel war on Iran.Obama urged Ohioans to vote against the Republican administration, saying: “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in the modern era, you get a chance to say, ‘Enough is enough’.” Heated Ohio racesThe former president also addressed the recent controversy in Ohio’s gubernatorial race surrounding an attack advertisement by Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy against Democrat Amy Acton.“In recent days, we’ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,” Obama said of Ramaswamy. “I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behaviour are so low that somebody could run an ad like that.”In the advertisement, Donna Arthur, Acton’s mother, disputes her daughter’s account of a childhood involving homelessness and ⁠⁠⁠⁠sexual abuse by her stepfather, urging Ohioans not to vote for her.Acton says she has not seen her mother since 1978. Acton’s brother has supported her account of being sexually abused by her stepfather when she was a child. The stepfather, who died in 2004, was charged with rape.Obama backed Acton, saying that she has “spoken movingly about her painful childhood and all she’s experienced: abuse, neglect and homelessness.”The former president shared the rally stage with Acton and Ohio’s former Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown, who will attempt a comeback against incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted.Polls give Democrats a slight lead in both Ohio races, but results are expected to be close.