Obama describes Trump as an agent of ‘chaos and cruelty’ in midterm elections pitch

CLEVELAND — Former President Barack Obama , appearing here Saturday at his first campaign rally for this fall’s midterm elections, characterized President Donald Trump as an agent of “chaos and cruelty” and a man of broken promises.

And in a particularly pointed criticism of his Republican successor, Obama mocked Trump’s ballroom construction and the gold accents he has added throughout the White House.

“Does anybody really think this guy in the White House right now is spending all that time thinking about these issues?” Obama wondered. “I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovations. He should be on HGTV.”

Obama added a moment later: “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

The crowd inside a near-capacity Public Auditorium, which holds more than 10,000, erupted with laughter at that and other quips Obama offered throughout his afternoon address. The former president’s visit was aimed at boosting two Democrats: Amy Acton, the party’s nominee for governor, and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has mounted a comeback bid for his old job.

Ohio, which has become more reliably Republican since Trump’s rise in politics, has emerged as an intense battleground this year. Polls show both races are toss-ups , with Democrats especially hopeful of winning the governorship for the first time in 20 years.

“This midterm election victory runs through Ohio,” Rep. Shontel Brown, a Democrat whose district includes a large part of Cleveland, said as she warmed up the crowd.

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Trump has rallied in the state twice in recent weeks, with a pitch primarily focused on Brown’s Republican rival, Sen. Jon Husted. Trump will return next week for an event in Chillicothe, a smaller, working-class city that served as Ohio’s first state capital.

Meanwhile, the race for governor was jolted this week by the decision by Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, to air an explosive attack ad that features Acton’s estranged mother calling her a “liar.”

The ad was met with swift and bipartisan condemnation for drawing on a family’s painful history of alleged sexual abuse . Obama was particularly scornful of the attack in his speech Saturday.

“We all know that guy — who is, like, thirsty,” Obama said of Ramaswamy. “Just wants to get attention no matter what, willing to do anything. And in recent days we’ve seen there is no line he won’t cross.”

He added: “I don’t know what’s happened where the standards of behavior have gotten so low that somebody can run an ad like that.”

Acton also briefly touched on the controversy in her remarks at the rally, thanking supporters for “the love you have shown” in recent days.

“My opponent,” she said, referring to Ramaswamy, “has chosen to exploit, intentionally, my childhood to save his struggling campaign, but it’s not going to work.”

In the Ramaswamy campaign’s ad, Donna Arthur calls her daughter a liar and urges Ohioans not to vote for her. Acton has said she has not seen or talked to Arthur in nearly 50 years. Over the years and throughout her campaign, Acton has also talked about having been sexually abused by Arthur’s then-husband as a child. She has said she was removed from Arthur’s custody in 1978, after her then-stepfather was charged with rape.

Ramaswamy has defended the ad, and his campaign on Thursday told NBC News that it planned a $4 million push to air it. Trump has expressed his approval , as well.

Obama also had kind words for Brown, whom he playfully described as frugal.