Former President Trump complained Friday that the Obamas were “mean” in their speeches at the Democratic National Convention and mocked advisers who advised him to stick to policy instead of making personal attacks.
“He was mean to me. He was mean. Michelle was mean. They’re all mean,” Trump said at a rally in Arizona, referencing speeches given by former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention earlier this week.
Trump criticized his rival in November’s presidential election, Vice President Harris, for repeatedly attacking him during her acceptance speech on Thursday night, and mocked her for repeatedly thanking the applauding crowd before beginning her speech.
The former president told supporters that his advisers had told him to “not get hung up on personalities, get hung up on policies.”
“I call them, my geniuses. They get paid big bucks. Not really. I say, ‘They’re beating me up so hard and you say I shouldn’t attack them personally. I have to attack them personally. They attack me personally,'” Trump said. “So they’re allowed to attack me personally, but I’m not allowed to attack them personally. They call me nasty things. Our great First Lady says, ‘But you’re not that kind of person, darling.'”
The former president has openly asked supporters at recent rallies whether they should continue their personal attacks on Harris, who has upended Trump’s lead in the polls since replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee. Trump’s advisers and allies have publicly pleaded with him to focus more on policy issues that matter to voters.
Trump and Obama have been longtime political enemies, but there was also personal animosity between them because Trump has long promoted a false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Michelle Obama made a rare public, political appearance at the Democratic National Convention. Blaming Trump Tuesday as someone who has benefited from generations of wealth and has no understanding of hard work.
“Who is going to tell him that the job he is currently seeking might indeed be one of those ‘black jobs’?” she said.
Former President Obama likened Trump to an annoying neighbor with a leaf vacuum and accused the Republican candidate of only thinking about his own interests.
