The former US president said President Trump had “made a series of bad decisions” and highlighted the US-Israel war against Iran.
Published October 25, 2026
Former US President Barack Obama has criticized President Donald Trump’s “brutality and corruption” during his second term.
President Obama criticized President Trump’s foreign policy in Ohio on Saturday during a midterm election campaign rally in support of the state’s Democratic candidates.
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“The current president has chosen to make a series of bad decisions,” the 65-year-old Democrat said. “The most important thing is that he decided to start an unnecessary war that no one asked for,” he added, referring to the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.
President Obama called on Ohioans to vote against the Republican administration, saying, “After two years of chaos, brutality, corruption and incompetence unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times, we have a chance to say, ‘Enough is enough.'”
Heated race in Ohio
The former president also addressed the recent controversy in the Ohio gubernatorial race over Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad against Democrat Amy Acton.
President Obama said of Ramaswamy, “The last few days have shown us that there is no line he cannot cross, no rock bottom he will not fall into.” “I don’t know what happened where the standards of conduct were so low that someone could run an ad like that.”
In the ad, Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, challenges Ohioans’ accounts of her daughter’s childhood, including homelessness and sexual abuse by her stepfather, and implores Ohioans not to vote for Acton.
Acton said he hasn’t seen his mother since 1978. Acton’s brother supported her testimony that she was sexually abused by her stepfather as a child. Her stepfather, who died in 2004, was charged with rape.
President Obama endorsed Acton, saying she “spoke movingly about her difficult childhood and everything she went through, including abuse, neglect, and homelessness.”
The former president took to the stage at the rally with Acton and former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who is seeking an upset against incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
Polls show Democrats with a slight lead in both races in Ohio, but the results are expected to be close.
