US midterms: Donald Trump and Barack Obama fire up voters as key election for Joe Biden looms
President Joe Biden and ex-President Donald Trump held duelling rallies ahead of the midterm elections, with their words echoed across the country as millions of Americans cast ballots to decide the balance of power in Washington and in key state capitals.
Democrats, led by President Joe Biden and two other former presidents, have warned that abortion rights, social security and even democracy itself are at stake, while former US president Donald Trump predicted America’s destruction if his fellow Republicans do not deliver a massive electoral wave on Tuesday.
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Hide AdJoe Biden campaigned in suburban New York, while Mr Trump was heading to Florida for a rally where he told voters in western Pennsylvania that the United States as “a country in decline”. He said: “If you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the American dream, then on Tuesday you must vote Republican in a giant red wave.”
The former president hinted that he would be running for office in 2024 stating "Everybody, I promise you, in the very next – very, very, very short period of time, you’re going to be happy,” Mr Trump said of another White House bid.
“But first we have to win an historic victory for Republicans on November 8.”
President Biden shared the stage with former president Barack Obama in Philadelphia, the former running mates campaigning together for the first time since Mr Biden took office with former president Bill Clinton, largely absent from national politics in recent years also out defending his party.
Sulking and moping is not an option,” the former president said in Pennsylvania. “On Tuesday, let’s make sure our country doesn’t get set back 50 years,” Mr Obama told hundreds of voters on a blustery day in Pittsburgh. “The only way to save democracy is if we, together, fight for it."
Mr Obama acknowledged that voters are anxious after suffering through “some tough times” in recent years, citing the pandemic, rising crime and surging inflation. “The Republican like to talk about it, but what’s their answer, what’s their economic policy?
“They want to gut social security. They want to gut Medicare. They want to give rich folks and big corporations more tax cuts.”
Mr Obama was accompanying Senate nominee John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor who represents his party’s best chance to flip a Republican-held seat. Later on Saturday, they were to appear in Philadelphia with President Joe Biden and Josh Shapiro, the nominee for governor.
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Hide AdPresident Biden’s address was a similar script as to previous speeches highlighting the Inflation Reduction Action, passed in August by the Democratic-led Congress, which includes several healthcare provisions popular among older adults and the less well-off, including a 2,000 dollar cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses and a 35 dollar monthly cap per prescription on insulin.
He told voters “We have to reaffirm the values that have long defined us, we are good people. I know this. Get out and vote.”