Midterm Campaigns: Rival Rallies in Georgia and Ohio

Former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump held rival campaign rallies in Georgia and Ohio on Wednesday, five days before the midterm elections.

The two men met in separate cities to attack each other on the war in Iran, trade tariffs, and the state of the national economy.

In Atlanta, Georgia, Obama argued that the current administration’s decision to start a war with Iran has made Americans less safe.

The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, targeting Tehran and nuclear facilities.

Those strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other high-ranking officials.

Tehran responded by attacking US military assets in the region and closing the Strait of Hormuz, a route for about one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies.

A ceasefire was reached in April and a memorandum of understanding was signed in June, but both agreements fell apart.

Obama stated that the US has run down its stock of missiles, making the country more vulnerable.

He pointed to rising prices for oil, diesel, and other goods as evidence that the war is not over.

Obama also criticized the administration’s trade policies, noting that economists predicted consumers would pay for tariffs.

He said the national debt is now running at about $40 trillion.

Trump, speaking in Chillicothe, Ohio, defended the military campaign against Iran and attacked the 2015 nuclear deal reached under Obama’s presidency in 2018 when the US pulled out of the agreement, calling it a road to a nuclear weapon for Iran and one of the dumbest deals he had ever seen. He claimed US operations had destroyed Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and 159 naval vessels. He also suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the Trump Strait. A protester interrupted the rally to shout about Jeffrey Epstein. Trump said he threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago about two decades ago and called the former financier a Democrat. He claimed the protesters were paid $250 to disrupt the event. Trump announced that Venezuela delivered one million barrels of oil to the US for free. The shipment arrived in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday, nearly ten months after US forces removed President Nicolas Maduro from power on January 3. Trump described the operation as a one-day victory and said Washington is now working with Venezuela to expand oil production. He defended Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy against criticism over a campaign ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic opponent Amy Acton. Trump said the ad was fair because the mother called Acton a liar. He also defended his White House renovations, saying he personally paid for repairs to cracked stone and broken windows. He noted that the White House had not been painted in 30 years. He mocked Obama’s record, noting that Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, and both lost. The next scheduled event for Obama is a rally in another state later this week. Trump is also holding a second rally in Ohio on Thursday. Both candidates will be on the ballot for the midterm elections on November 3.