Former President Trump on Wednesday mocked allies who suggested he should not engage in personal attacks, pointing to fiery speeches a night earlier from former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic convention.
“Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night? He was taking shots at your president. And so was Michelle,” Trump told supporters at a North Carolina rally.
“You know, they always say, ‘Sir, please stick to policy, don’t get personal,’” Trump continued. “And yet they’re getting personal all night long, these people. Do I still have to stick to policy?”
Trump then imitated allies who have urged him not to engage in personal insults.
“Sir, you must stick to policy. You’ll win it on the border. You'll win it with inflation. You’ll win it with your great military that you built,” Trump said.
Trump and the Obamas have been political rivals for years, but there has also been personal animosity because of Trump pushing the false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Obama also saw Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, despite his backing for his former secretary of State.
The Obamas served as the keynote speakers during the second night of the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, electrifying the crowd and delivering a stinging rebuke of Trump in the process.
Michelle Obama, making a rare public appearance, accused Trump of trying to make Americans fear her and her husband. And she slammed him as someone who has benefited from generational wealth and doesn’t understand hard work.
“His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black,” Michelle Obama said. “I want to know — I want to know — who’s going to tell him, who’s going to tell him, that the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs'?”
Former President Obama likened Trump to an annoying neighbor with a leaf blower and argued the GOP nominee was only interested in serving himself.
“Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago,” Obama said.
“It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he is afraid of losing to Kamala. There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes,” he added, making a hand gesture that implied he was mocking Trump’s manhood.
Trump has heard criticism from other Republicans who argue he should make less personality-based attacks on Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and focus on policy.
Harris has quickly closed a polling edge that Trump had enjoyed over President Biden when he was still his presumed opponent.
