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Former president scoffs at idea Trump’s bullying shows strength in speech that also condemns hurricane lies and asks ‘When did that become OK?’
Good morning, US politics blog readers, there’s another busy news day in store and we’ll keep up with all the developments as they happen. Party politics has seeped further into hurricane news, and you can follow all that in our storm blog, here.
Elsewhere, much is afoot on the campaign trail. Here’s what’s in store.
Barack Obama said he had “a problem” with men who keep coming up with bogus excuses not to vote for Kamala Harris and leaning into Donald Trump’s macho aggression, in his first appearance on the campaign trail for the Democrats in Pittsburgh yesterday, in the must-win state of Pennsylvania. Expect more events with the former, two-term president.
The former president told the crowd: “I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength. And I am here to tell you: that is not what real strength is.
”It never has been. Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves, that is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons, and that is what I want to see a president of the United States of America.”
Obama also condemned Trump’s spreading of disinformation about the hurricane, railing against “the idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments”. He highlighted that lies may discourage some of the people affected from seeking help. Visibly emotional, Obama asked: “When did that become OK?”
The Democratic governors of three vital battleground states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are going to hit the trail together.
Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Wisconsin’s Tony Evers plan a midwestern bus tour from next week, called Driving Forward , Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC said and Axios reported this morning.
Bill Clinton, who maybe didn’t set the Democratic voting world alight with his lengthy address at the party’s convention in August but is nevertheless always a big name in US politics, is going to Georgia this weekend and then North Carolina, where Trump is marginally ahead in the polls and it’s all hands on deck for the Dems.
Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick, is going to do a TV interview blitz in, where else, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the coming days, Axios reports.
Donald Trump will speak in Aurora, Colorado, this afternoon, a state that’s confidently Democratic these days, but the former president plans to slam it to migrants and asylum seekers again, planning to make claims about Venezuelans and crime levels.
This comes after Trump again used brutal language to undercut United States allies in the NATO alliance, saying “we will not protect you” from Russia if they don’t spend as much as they should on paper on their militaries. Trump was speaking in Detroit.
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