Former President Barack Obama tore into Donald Trump while making his first campaign appearance with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday.
Obama criticized his successor his “word salad” speeches and rallies, and for trying to sell people everything from sneakers to bibles.
“He’s trying to sell you gold sneakers,” Obama told a packed arena in Atlanta, Georgia. “Try to sell you a $100,000 watch. Try to sell you a Trump Bible. Wants to sell you the word of God, Donald Trump edition.”
“You cannot make this stuff up,” Obama said as the crowd laughed. “If this was on a Saturday Night Live skit, you’d say, nah, that’s crazy.”
Former U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, at the James R Hallford Stadium on October 24, 2024 in Clarkston, Georgia.
Alex Wong/Getty
Obama also went after Trump’s competence, and his defense of the deadly January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
“I mean, have you seen Donald Trump lately?” Obama said. “He’s out there giving two-hour speeches, just word salad. He said the other day January 6 was a day of love. He said that. Like it was Woodstock or Coachella.”
“If your grandpa was acting like this,” he continued, “you would call up your brother, call up your cousin, you say, ‘Hey, have you noticed grandpa? He’s acting kind of funny right now.”
Obama was one of several celebrities and political heavyweights who showed up to campaign for Harris as she heads into the final stretch of the election. Bruce Springsteen, Tyler Perry, Spike Lee, and Samuel L. Jackson also headlined the rally and encouraged voters to turn out for Harris.
“I want a president who reveres the Constitution,” Springsteen said in between performances. Harris is “running to be the 47th president of the United States. Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant. He does not understand this country, its history or what it means to be deeply American.”
Trump, meanwhile, spent the day campaigning in Arizona and Nevada. He made immigration and border security a center point of his rally in Tempe, Arizona, earlier in the day, where he painted a dark and dystopian picture of a country being overrun by undocumented immigrants.
“We’re like a garbage can for the world,” he said, and later added: “The United States now is an occupied country. But it will soon be an occupied country no longer. November 5 will be called liberation day in America.”
