Former President Barack Obama offered a sharp condemnation of comments made by speakers at former President Donald Trump’s campaign event in New York over the weekend, referring to them as “racist, sexist, bigoted stereotypes.”
“The man holds this big rally at Madison Square Garden, and the warm-up speakers were saying the most, were trotting out and peddling the most racist, sexist, bigoted stereotypes,” Obama said during a campaign event on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia on Monday.
Obama went on to specifically criticize comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” in his remarks ahead of the former president at the event Sunday night in New York.
“These are fellow citizens he’s talking about,” Obama said on Monday. “Here in Philadelphia, they are your neighbors. They are your friends, they are your coworkers.”
Trump's campaign has sought to distance itself from the comedian's comments, saying they don't reflect his views, while the former president himself claimed Tuesday he didn't hear the comments, but didn't denounce them.
The Harris campaign jumped on highlighting the comment from the comedian, which caused a firestorm in the political world just about a week before election day, seeking to make the case it represents the vice president’s GOP opponent. The Trump campaign has sought to distance itself from the remark, even as Hinchcliffe has defended it as simply comedy.
Obama on Monday made the case that Trump wants to drive a wedge between Americans because he believes it will help him win next week and called on voters to "reject the kind of politics of division and hatred that we saw represented" on Sunday.
“Donald Trump understands – and he’s not wrong about this – that, dividing people, making them angry, will boost his chances of being elected,” he said. “It’s not good for the country, but it might improve his odds.”
Obama rallied Monday night alongside musicians Bruce Springsteen and John Legend for Democrats up and down the ballot, including Harris and Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who is running for reelection.
Trump, meanwhile, referred to former first lady Michelle Obama as “nasty” days after she made her first joint appearance with Harris on the campaign trail this election cycle.
“You know who's nasty to me? Michelle Obama,” Trump told a crowd at a rally in Atlanta on Monday. “I always tried to be so nice and respectful. Oh, she opened up a little bit of a – a little bit of a box, she opened up a little bit of something.”
“She was nasty,” Trump continued. “Shouldn’t be that way, that was a big mistake that she made.”
The former first lady sharply criticized the former president during remarks ahead of the vice president at a rally in Kalamazoo in battleground Michigan on Saturday, including saying some Americans are ignoring Trump’s “gross incompetence.”
“In any other profession or arena, Trump’s criminal track record and amoral character would be embarrassing, shameful and disqualifying,” Obama said in her first appearance on the trail aside from a speech at the Democratic National Convention in August.
The term “nasty” is one Trump has frequently used to describe those who criticize or push back against him, dating back to the 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton.