Obama blasts Trump for Iran war, tariffs, ICE ahead of 2026 midterm elections

[0:00] Now, I don't have to tell you how tough things are out there. [0:06] You're living it. [0:07] But I do think it's worth reminding ourselves just how we got here [0:13] and the promises that the current occupant of the White House [0:18] was making on the campaign trail two years ago. [0:23] It's always good to play back the tape because we've got a record at the time. [0:33] There were a lot of people who were already not crazy about the guy's character. [0:37] They had seen that on display. [0:39] But they were frustrated about the post-COVID inflation, seeing prices go up, [0:47] and they heard him promise to get costs under control. [0:51] That was what he was saying. [0:52] I'm going to get costs under control. [0:54] Those weren't the only promises he made. [0:56] He also promised he'd impose tariffs that would bring down the deficit. [1:02] He promised he'd stop getting us involved in unnecessary wars. [1:06] He promised he'd pass a beautiful health care bill [1:11] that would make everybody's lives better. [1:16] He had been promising that since the first time he was president. [1:20] Let's see how all these promises worked out. [1:24] Let's run back the tape. [1:28] Now, first, if you thought everything cost too much before, guess what? [1:36] Everything costs more now. [1:39] Your mortgage, your health care, your utility bills. [1:43] Interest rates, interest rates are up. [1:45] And then there's gas, $4 a gallon, $5 a gallon. [1:51] Diesel, over $6 in climate. [1:56] Now, I want to be fair, because I believe in facts. [2:02] And the fact is, as a former president, I can say this. [2:05] Sometimes factors beyond your control end up foiling your best-laid plans. [2:13] You can say you're going to do something, and then there's some economic crisis, or something happens. [2:21] So, sometimes a president has to deal with things he didn't expect during the campaign trip. [2:29] But that's not the case here. [2:32] In this case, the administration's actions are directly responsible for rising costs. [2:39] The current president chose to make a series of bad decisions, the most important of which was he decided to start an unnecessary war nobody had asked for, and nobody voted for. [2:56] Now, hey, by the way, y'all must, those of you who've been to my rallies, you don't boo here. [3:05] What do you do? [3:06] You vote. [3:08] They can't hear you booing. [3:10] They can hear you voting. [3:13] Now, I want you to think about this around war. [3:18] The original rationale was, well, we're going to go in there, let's go, we're going to make them, you know, bend the knee and give up their nuclear program, their nuclear weapons. [3:32] Of course, Iran didn't have nuclear weapons. [3:36] We had curbed their nuclear program because I put in place a deal that everybody acknowledged had kept them from getting nukes. [3:47] I didn't have to fire a missile. [3:49] I engaged in diplomacy. [3:51] So, seven months later, and six months after, they declared victory. [4:01] Keep in mind, like, a month in, they're all like, oh, this is the greatest war ever. [4:05] Look, seven months later, how's that war going? [4:11] Our allies and bases have been attacked. [4:15] American soldiers have been killed. [4:19] Hundreds of Americans have been wounded. [4:22] We've run down our stock of missiles, dangerously low. [4:25] And this is the thing, Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz, where oil goes through to get to the world. [4:36] So they're in a stronger strategic position now than before the war started. [4:40] That was a decision this administration made. [4:46] And that is the reason that the price of oil is up and the price of diesel's up and the price of just about everything is up. [4:55] And by the way, it's not over. [4:58] It's still going on. [4:59] Meanwhile, you've got the defense secretary who is like a laser focused on important matters like the jawline and testosterone levels of our troops. [5:27] And live streaming executions because that's how he thinks you cultivate that manly warrior spirit. [5:34] How much time do you think this man spends in front of the mirror every day? [5:40] I mean, he just, these are not serious people. [5:52] We are paying for the price of their lack of seriousness. [6:02] Oil prices aren't the only reason prices keep going up, although they're the primary driver of it. [6:07] There's also this whole tariff business. [6:10] And this is especially important for Michigan. [6:12] Our current president loves tariffs. [6:16] Loves them. [6:17] That's his one economic policy. [6:18] Tariffs. [6:20] They're going to be great. [6:21] The greatest tariffs ever. [6:22] And he was warned at the time, when you impose tariffs, consumers pay the tab. [6:34] And it's not just the goods that are imported that we buy, that are made in other countries. [6:40] In a place like Michigan and the auto industry, you've got integrated systems between Canada, the United States. [6:49] And so each car requires a whole bunch of parts from a whole bunch of places. [6:56] So he was warned. [6:58] This will drive prices up. [6:59] This does not lower prices. [7:02] And by the way, that's exactly what happened. [7:05] And the weirdest thing is, he's the toughest when it comes to tariffs and trade wars on that well-known evil empire, Canada. [7:25] That historical adversary of ours. [7:29] Canada. [7:30] Canada. [7:31] It's your neighbor. [7:34] It's a few minutes' drive over the bridge. [7:36] These are the people who gave us Martin Short and Maple Syrup. [7:44] They are the nicest people. [7:49] Like, they're so nice. [7:54] And somehow, we've gotten them so mad because they're just constantly being abused and talked about. [8:04] And talking about annexing their country. [8:06] Making it a 51st state. [8:07] And so, rather than these tariffs bringing down the deficits like he said he would, they're driving up your prices. [8:17] And now, we are running a debt to the tune of $40 trillion. [8:21] I want to, I can't resist pointing out, by the way, when I was president, we're in the middle of the worst financial crisis. [8:30] All these Republicans are all deficits, deficits, debt, debt. [8:33] You got to do something about it. [8:36] And now, $40 trillion. [8:40] Crickets. [8:48] What happened? [8:50] What happened? [8:53] Somehow, deficits only matter when a Democratic president is in office. [8:57] So, anyway, you would think that with all this going on, at least our current president would have passed some legislation to try to bring down prices. [9:09] But no, the only bill they have passed of any significance was a trillion-dollar tax break that mostly benefits the richest Americans. [9:21] Now, don't boo, vote. [9:24] Now, I have heard the argument that the president's done some things that folks want him to do, like tightening up the border. [9:34] Now, you know what? [9:37] I believe we do need to make sure our border is orderly and secure. [9:40] I believe that we want folks coming here lawfully. [9:44] And, in fact, when I was president, I got criticized by some Democratic allies for tightening up enforcement at the border. [9:50] I do not recall anybody campaigning on sending masked agents running through our streets. [10:00] I don't recall anybody talking about law-abiding citizens being arrested and detained and shot and killed. [10:12] We did not ask for that. [10:13] That's not how you get our border under control. [10:17] Let's be honest, and I'm not telling you something you don't know. [10:33] Does anybody really think this guy is spending that much time thinking deeply on these issues? [10:38] I don't know if you've noticed, but he is very focused on home renovation. [10:46] He should be on HGTV. [10:47] The guy is building a ballroom that is bigger than the White House, paved over the Rose Garden, paved it over, put a helicopter pad on the sidewalk, and then there is just gold everywhere. [11:07] What's up with the gold? [11:12] I mean, he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. [11:18] It's just gold everywhere. [11:21] He is clearly not focused on lowering prices for you. [11:30] People will come in to talk about the Iran war and talk about lowering prices. [11:37] Uh-oh, it's okay. [11:38] All right, all right, hold up. [11:39] It's a little hot in here, and somebody's fainted. [11:41] So if we've got an EMT, that's what happens. [11:45] EMTs, we just give her a little space. [11:49] Just give her a little space. [11:52] They'll be fine. [11:53] For those of you who have not yet fainted, bend your knees. [11:58] That's what you do. [11:59] You can't lock your knees. [12:00] That's important. [12:01] A little tip, stay hydrated, bend your knees. [12:06] I have been in a lot of gyms. [12:10] She'll be okay. [12:11] So just let, just give space, let the EMTs work. [12:15] All right, I'm going to keep on going, though. [12:16] Now, the one thing that the current president is focused on, other than home improvements, is enriching himself and his family and his cronies. [12:30] Just look in the last couple weeks, and I just want to be clear here. [12:38] This is all documented. [12:40] Like, you can just look it up. [12:43] We, I'm not making it up. [12:46] You, you would have thought I was making it up, but I'm not. [12:49] We've got a U.S. ambassador shaking down a donor to pay off her credit card bills, $100,000. [12:55] We learned a Venezuelan billionaire wanted a pardon, so he paid one of Trump's personal lawyers $50 million to be general counsel of a company nobody knows anything about. [13:09] And lo and behold, the, the, the pardon falls out of the sky. [13:14] This is a culture that's set at the top. [13:17] We have never seen a president excel in straight up grifting on your dime like this. [13:27] Never seen a president so intent on selling favors like this. [13:38] We have lost count. [13:41] Vote, because we have lost count. [13:49] See, this is, this, this group's a quick study. [13:54] We have lost count of all the deals he and his family have done. [13:58] You can't keep up. [14:01] Mean coins, taxpayer-funded contracts for his kids' companies. [14:06] As, as, as Abdul mentioned, the guy's become billions of dollars wealthier in office. [14:12] Nobody disputes this. [14:15] No, nobody denies it. [14:17] It's, it's just, how do you do that when you're supposed to be looking out for you? [14:25] And, and the worst part about it is not a single Republican in Congress has done anything to stop it. [14:33] Many of the Republicans on the ballot here in Michigan have done anything to stop any of this nonsense. [14:44] Most, most, most of them supported him every step of the way. [14:51] You know, they, you remember, roll back the tape, we're going to drain the swamp. [14:55] The, the only thing they drained is the reflecting pool on the National Mall because some no-bid contract got it all messed up. [15:04] And then they tried to blame him on this three-time Olympian. [15:08] You remember that? [15:09] Said he vandalized it. [15:11] And they had to drop the case because it was foolishness. [15:15] But, and, and we could just go down the list. [15:17] All right. [15:18] Now, I, I, I, like it or not. [15:22] And, and remember, don't, don't boo because I'm going to say this. [15:27] Like it or not, we got two more years of this administration. [15:31] Vote, vote. [15:33] That's how, that, that's how our system of government works. [15:38] Wait, wait, we're, we are, we're stuck with that. [15:40] But, but you know what we're not stuck with? [15:44] We're not stuck with a spineless Congress and Republican governors who are enabling all this lawlessness and corruption and indifference to working people. [15:57] We're not stuck with those who will enable policies that take more and more out of your paychecks and your health care and drive up inflation. [16:05] We're not stuck with that. [16:06] This election is our last, best chance to at least rein in some of the foolishness of this administration. [16:16] It is the circuit breaker in the system. [16:19] We got to flip that circuit breaker. [16:22] Bring some accountability to this government. [16:25] We need to start showing the American people who are hungry for solutions what real leadership looks like, what concrete plans look like that actually lower costs and make health care more affordable and make housing more affordable and get utility bills under control. [16:46] We just can't, we can't just be against something. [16:49] We got to be for something. [16:51] We got to start showing what a future on the other side of this administration can look like. [17:02] And that starts with all of you. [17:03] We got to start showing what a future on the other side of this administration can look like, what a future on the other side of this administration can look like, what a future on the other side of this administration can look like, what a future on the other side of this administration can look like, what a future on the side of this administration can look like, what a future on the side of this administration can look like, what a future on the side of this administration can look like, what a future on the side of this administration can look like.