{"id":26515,"date":"2026-10-29T09:11:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T09:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/obama-and-trump-spar-at-rallies-in-georgia-and-ohio-key-takeaways-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T09:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T09:11:53","slug":"obama-and-trump-spar-at-rallies-in-georgia-and-ohio-key-takeaways-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/obama-and-trump-spar-at-rallies-in-georgia-and-ohio-key-takeaways-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama and Trump spar at rallies in Georgia and Ohio: Key takeaways &#8211; Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Obama and Trump traded barbs over the Iran war, tariffs and the White House ballroom ahead of the US midterm elections.<\/em><br \/>Save<br \/>Share<br \/>Former US President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump held rival campaign rallies in Georgia and Ohio on Wednesday, trading criticism over the war in Iran, tariffs and the economy just <a href=\"\/news\/2026\/10\/29\/us-midterms-five-days-to-go-what-the-polls-say-as-trump-harris-campaign\">five days<\/a> before midterm elections.<br \/>Here are some of the key takeaways from their rallies:<br \/>\u201cThe current president chose to make a series of bad decisions, the most important of which was to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for and nobody voted for,\u201d Obama said during a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia.<br \/>The United States and Israel launched <a href=\"\/tag\/israel-iran-conflict\/\">strikes on Iran<\/a> on February 28, targeting Tehran as well as the country\u2019s nuclear and military facilities, and killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several high-ranking officials. Tehran responded with attacks on US military assets across the region and closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.<br \/>Although a ceasefire was reached in April \u2013 and a memorandum of understanding was signed in June \u2013 both fell apart, while efforts to secure lasting peace have stalled over Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, US sanctions and the reopening of the strait.<br \/>The US media has also reported that the US is low on weapons \u2013 particularly its Patriot missile interceptors.<br \/>\u201cWe have run down our stock of missiles, making us more vulnerable. And Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz where much of the world\u2019s oil goes through to get to consumers,\u201d Obama told supporters.<br \/>\u201cThis is the reason why the price of oil is up. This is the reason why the price of diesel is up. The price of just about everything is up,\u201d he added.<br \/>\u201cContrary to the promises and statements and declarations that were made seven months ago, this war is not over.\u201d<br \/><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><br \/>Obama again criticised Trump\u2019s trade tariffs, which he launched against global trading partners shortly after taking office in early 2025. Obama argued these have increased the cost of goods for American consumers rather than delivering the economic benefits promised by the administration.<br \/>\u201cEconomists said when you impose tariffs, consumers pay the tab,\u201d Obama said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s exactly what happened.\u201d<br \/>\u201cRather than having the tariffs bring down deficits like he said he would, we\u2019re now running a <a href=\"\/economy\/2026\/8\/20\/us-debt-hits-40-trillion-who-does-washington-owe-and-why-does-it-matter\">debt to the tune of $40 trillion<\/a>.\u201d<br \/>In particular, he singled out Trump\u2019s ongoing dispute with Canada, one of the US\u2019s largest trading partners.<br \/>The two countries have been locked in a trade war, with Trump announcing 50 percent tariffs on Canadian vehicles and auto parts from January 2027. Canada retaliated with its own matching tariffs as talks fell apart in August.<br \/>\u201cAnd the big trade war he\u2019s waging now is that well-known evil empire, that historical adversary of the United States, Canada,\u201d Obama said.<br \/>He also criticised Trump\u2019s approach to US allies and Russia.<br \/>\u201cWhile we\u2019re alienating key allies like Canada, the White House is bending the knee to Vladimir Putin of Russia and selling out Ukrainians who are fighting for their freedom and democracy.\u201d<br \/>Obama again made fun of Trump\u2019s White House renovations, saying the president appeared more concerned about a joke he made over the weekend than rising prices.<br \/>At an <a href=\"\/news\/2026\/10\/25\/obamas-ohio-michigan-speeches-key-takeaways-on-trump-iran-war-midterms\">earlier rally<\/a>, Obama had criticised Trump\u2019s plans for a new ballroom, changes to the Rose Garden and the addition of gold decorations.<br \/>\u201cHe seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV,\u201d Obama joked. \u201cHe\u2019s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, just gold everywhere.\u201d<br \/><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><br \/>In Georgia, Obama returned to the joke. \u201cThe president wasn\u2019t even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison. That part didn\u2019t bother him,\u201d Obama said.<br \/>\u201cBut he was very upset about the Cheesecake Factory comments.\u201d<br \/>Obama joked that the White House had gone to great lengths to respond. \u201cThey mobilised a whole-of-government response to that joke. Not to inflation, but to that joke.\u201d<br \/>He also talked about his own fondness for the restaurant chain.<br \/>\u201cI lived at Chuck-E-Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory. That was my jam for about a decade.\u201d<br \/>Returning to Trump\u2019s renovations, Obama added: \u201cHe is literally doing arts and crafts while we are fighting a war and trying to deal with out-of-control prices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Obama closed his speech reflecting on American political culture, saying the country\u2019s problems go beyond inflation, economic inequality and government policy.<br \/>\u201cIt\u2019s not just about economics. It\u2019s not just about prices. It\u2019s about values,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is a moral component to the choices we face right now.\u201d<br \/>Obama warned that dishonesty and intimidation were undermining public life.<br \/>\u201cWe are not going to fix the system that\u2019s broken. We\u2019re not going to unrig our economy so long as we\u2019ve got a culture where anything goes, where people in the highest offices of the land think it\u2019s OK to lie and cheat and bully.\u201d<br \/>He referenced a 1954 sermon by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, who called on Americans to rediscover values society had abandoned.<br \/>\u201cIf we are to go forward today, we\u2019ve got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we\u2019ve left behind,\u201d Obama quoted King as saying.<br \/>Trump defended his military campaign against Iran and criticised the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran reached under Barack Obama.<br \/>The deal limited how much uranium Iran could enrich and stockpile, and allowed international inspectors to monitor its nuclear facilities. Trump pulled the US out in 2018, saying the deal did not go far enough and failed to address Iran\u2019s missile programme and activities in the region.<br \/>\u201cI terminated Barack Hussein Obama\u2019s JCPOA or the Iran nuclear deal, which was a road to a nuclear weapon for Iran and one of the dumbest deals I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d Trump said.<br \/>Trump claimed US military operations had since destroyed Iran\u2019s nuclear enrichment capacity and much of its military, including 159 naval vessels.<br \/>\u201cWe obliterated Iran\u2019s nuclear enrichment capacity with Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury,\u201d he said.<br \/>Turning to the Strait of Hormuz, Trump claimed oil shipments had increased and suggested renaming the waterway after himself. \u201cWe\u2019re going to call it the Trump Strait,\u201d he said.<br \/>The strait, between Iran and Oman, connects the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Before the war, about a fifth of the world\u2019s oil consumption passed through it.<br \/>Early in his remarks in Chillicothe, Ohio, Trump was interrupted by a protester shouting about Jeffrey Epstein.<br \/>Trump rarely brings up Epstein, his former friend, but on Wednesday he repeated claims he made last year that he threw Epstein out of his Florida club about two decades ago.<br \/>\u201cThat was a great thing I did, I must tell you,\u201d Trump said. He added: \u201cI threw Jeffrey Epstein the hell out of Mar-a-Lago.\u201d<br \/>Trump then accused Democrats of having ties to Epstein and using the controversy against him. \u201cHe was a Democrat,\u201d Trump said.<br \/>Trump also claimed the protesters were being paid to disrupt his rallies, without providing evidence.<br \/>\u201cThese guys are paid protesters. Think of a guy, that guy\u2019s probably 45, 50 years old. They give him $250.\u201d<br \/>After he was interrupted by two more protesters, Trump returned to his remarks.<br \/><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><br \/>Trump said Venezuela had delivered one million barrels of oil to the US for free following the US military operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.<br \/>\u201cVenezuela, they don\u2019t like talking about, we just got a million barrels of oil delivered to us free of charge,\u201d Trump said during his rally in Ohio.<br \/>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/first-venezuelan-oil-us-nabep-deal-arrives-texas-be-sold-exxon-citgo-2026-10-27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shipment<\/a> arrived in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday, nearly 10 months after US forces abducted Maduro during a military operation on January 3 and transferred him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.<br \/>Since Maduro\u2019s removal, Washington has been working with Venezuela\u2019s interim government, led by Delcy Rodriguez, to gain greater access to the country\u2019s oil reserves.<br \/>Trump described the military operation as a victory and said Washington was now working with Venezuela to expand oil production. \u201cWe had a little war with Venezuela. We finished it in one day,\u201d he said.<br \/>\u201cAnd we\u2019re now working with them to produce millions and millions of barrels of oil a week.\u201d<br \/>The president in his speech once again defended Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for a <a href=\"\/news\/2026\/10\/24\/has-vivek-ramaswamys-attack-ad-against-amy-acton-backfired\">campaign advertisement<\/a> featuring the estranged mother of Amy Acton, his Democratic opponent for Ohio governor, which has drawn backlash because of the abuse Acton experienced as a child.<br \/>\u201cVivek was treated very unfairly,\u201d Trump said during his Ohio rally. \u201cHe had the mother of his opponent say that her daughter was a liar.\u201d<br \/>Trump accused the media of treating Ramaswamy differently because he is a Republican.<br \/>\u201cThe mother said that Amy Acton, the daughter, is a liar. That she\u2019s no good. That she lied about the opponent. How the hell is that his problem?\u201d<br \/><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><br \/>After Obama mocked his plans for the White House, Trump said: \u201cPresident Obama, who doesn\u2019t understand cleanliness. Who doesn\u2019t understand broken cracked stone and sidewalk?\u201d<br \/>He said the White House had been in poor condition and that he had personally paid for repairs. \u201cI fixed it very inexpensively. I paid for it myself. I fixed it.\u201d<br \/>Because the White House, I think, is the number one symbol of our country. And we can\u2019t have a White House with broken windows, with broken stone that hasn\u2019t been painted in 30 years.\u201d<br \/>\u201cIt\u2019s never looked more beautiful,\u201d he said.<br \/>He also mocked Obama\u2019s record of campaigning for Democratic presidential candidates.<br \/>\u201cHe got involved with Hillary Clinton \u2026 and he lost. He then got involved with Kamala and he lost.\u201d<br \/>\u201cThey said Obama\u2019s coming. I said that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMingFBVV95cUxNdmVfakdVc0pOTjhBdWtISTlFczZDLTJndnB6a2tHMkFFT3VGMkg2T0ZZdFJPcGs3MXNFRXNiM3AwWTZLc3p3OUZBcTE1RWVWYjJDN1k2RVFjSldTT2VYZ2VlVjJyQUp5VGtoQWx2Z1BEdTlxRmhtdmZscml5bTd0cEVyUVNGOEkwaHRPV1h6UUhOaHdWUGZWbVRKaHlnUdIBowFBVV95cUxOckZwc1gydXNxVmppNWY4VmJ1aFQxRV9ock83eE9RSy1KWXctWTY1QTdndkd6cU9jMUgxU2xUT3M5cm11LW5pVHR2dHVWRng4NkpuNjY0WlRxVTVITnh5YVFUMnZRcUc4QlZ3VHg5ZWkzUlVkQlVLOEdJTWtIZEJpa1lsbW5lTnl5YmROc1lVY2FmUHJTc3ZoV2hrYWpGRUl0RmVF?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obama and Trump traded barbs over the Iran war, tariffs and the White House ballroom ahead of the US midterm elections.SaveShareFormer US President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump held rival campaign rallies in Georgia and Ohio on Wednesday, trading criticism over the war in Iran, tariffs and the economy just five days before midterm [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}