Trump, Obama spar over issues in dueling rallies
President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama headlined dueling rallies Sunday, sparring in unusually personal terms about health care and who deserves credit for the country’s recent economic gains.
The spectacle of the president and his immediate predecessor lashing out at each other came two days before the midterm elections, and 10 years to the day after Obama won the White House in 2008.
In Macon, Georgia, Trump declared that Obama “did not tell the truth” when he told Americans, “You can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan,” under his signature health care legislation.
“He said it 28 times, and it wasn’t true,” Trump told the crowd.
Obama delivered his own blistering critique of Trump, accusing the president and Republicans of “just making stuff up” and mocking them for claiming ownership of economic gains that began on his watch.
“The economy created more jobs in my last 21 months than it has in the 21 months since I left office,” Obama said in Gary, Indiana. “So, when you hear these Republicans bragging about ‘Look how good the economy is,’ where do you think that started? Somebody had to clean it up. That’s what a progressive agenda did.”
The presidential broadsides came as Trump and his allies defended the president’s focus on immigration, the Georgia gubernatorial race was rocked by last-minute accusations of hacking and leaders of both parties voiced cautious optimism about their chances on Tuesday.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday showed that 50 percent of registered voters prefer Democratic House candidates, compared with 43 percent for Republicans. Democrats need to gain 23 seats to retake the House and two seats to reclaim a Senate majority.
In remarks before leaving the White House for Sunday’s rallies, Trump predicted that his campaigntrail efforts had made a difference in “five or six or seven” of this year’s Senate races. He also dismissed criticism that he has veered away from talking about the economy, telling reporters, “Well, I do focus on the economy, but you people don’t like to cover that.”
Obama, who has been active on the campaign trail in the weeks leading up to the midterms, spoke with a rasp in his voice Sunday as he took aim at Trump, telling the crowd that “the character of our country is on the ballot” and accusing Republicans of “shamelessly” lying.
“Unlike some people, I don’t just make stuff up when I’m talking,” Obama said at a rally to support Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. “I’ve got facts to back me up. I believe in fact-based campaigning. I believe in reality-based governance.”