Obama campaigns for Democrats, criticising Trump over corruption and Iran

Detroit, United States. Barack Obama campaigned for Democratic candidates on Saturday, accusing President Donald Trump of corruption and attacking his approach to Iran, with ten days remaining before elections that will decide control of a narrowly divided Congress. At appearances in Cleveland and Detroit, the former president also mocked the gold-heavy style of Trump’s White House renovations.

Obama urges voters to impose checks

Trump has encouraged voters to treat the midterm elections as a judgment on him, despite his absence from the ballot. Obama adopted that framing while campaigning in Michigan for Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, presenting the November 3 election as an opportunity to interrupt Trump’s agenda and curb conduct he described as foolish.

Related: Trump and Obama take leading campaign roles days before US congressional elections

RelatedTrump and Obama take leading campaign roles days before US congressional elections

“We got to flip that circuit breaker, bring some accountability to this government,” Obama said.

Obama served as president from 2009 to 2017, when Trump’s first term began. He continues to rank among Democrats’ most popular figures, and the party hopes his campaigning will energise supporters in the closely contested Senate race between El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, a former US representative.

Addressing the Michigan audience, Obama echoed familiar Democratic criticisms of Trump and Republicans’ readiness to support him. He alleged that Trump was exploiting the presidency at taxpayers’ expense and selling favours to an unprecedented degree. He also portrayed the Republican Party as embracing corruption, incompetence or an absence of government.

Trump responds on social media

The White House offered no immediate response when asked for comment. In a Truth Social post early Sunday, however, Trump described Obama as deeply incompetent during his presidency and called El-Sayed a “Muslim Brotherhood Jihadist, who hates Jews and Blacks and AMERICANS and TRUMP”.

An August Reuters/Ipsos survey found that 63% of Americans believed Trump and his family had improperly benefited from cryptocurrency following his return to the presidency last year. The poll also found that 69% thought his personal business interests affected his policy choices.

Criticism of Iran strategy

Obama challenged the administration’s assertions that it had achieved victory against Iran. He argued that the war had strengthened Iran’s economic leverage, saying its threats against vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz had unnerved oil-exporting countries.