Former President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic Ohio Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)Barack Obama has issued a scathing takedown of Donald Trump’s second term, describing it as “chaos, cruelty, corruption and incompetence”.
The former president laid into his successor shortly before US voters head to the ballot box to vote in the midterm elections.
While Trump is not on the ballot paper, he needs his Republican Party to hold onto their majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives so he can continue to pass legislation – or he risks becoming a lame duck president.
Speaking at an Ohio rally, Democrat Obama told supporters: “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’.”
Obama added: “This election is our last chance to at least rein in some of the foolishness of this administration.
“it’s the circuit-breaker in the system. We need to flip that circuit-breaker, we need to start bringing some accountability to this administration.”
He continued: “The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions. Most importantly, he decided to start an unnecessary war that nobody asked for.”
Obama was alluding the war in the Middle East which was triggered by Trump’s decision to strike Iran in February.
Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation, causing major disruption to world’s oil supplies.
Obama said: “We have never seen a president excel in straight-up grifting on your dime like this. We have lost count of all the deals he and his family have done. Never seen a president so intent on selling favours like this.”
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened up a Cheesecake Factory” — Obama pic.twitter.com/3fH8IQP1MG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 24, 2026
Trump made more than £1 billion from cryptocurrency during the first full year of his second term.
Obama said: “We need serious people in Washington and state capitals. These are serious times. This is not the time for reality TV.”
He also joked about Trump’s redesign attempts, saying the president was “very focused on home renovations”.
Obama claimed: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.”
At the same, Trump was telling supporters at a rally in Georgia that his immigration policies and tariffs had made sure they were “in the golden age of America”.
Polls suggest voters are on track to hit the Republicans hard at the ballot box due to the rising cost of living.
The US president tried to win back some voters by announcing a new diesel deal with Vladimir Putin earlier this month, but experts think this will have little impact on Americans’ bills.
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