Barack Obama addressed a crowd in Wisconsin as Tim Walz committed a series of gaffes while attacking Donald Trump’s visit to McDonald’s.
Mr Walz, the Democratic vice presidential hopeful, misspoke twice as he hit out at the Republican at a rally in Madison, where he was speaking ahead of Mr Obama.
“The real question that people going through McDonald’s are going to be asked is, you want a Trump tax cut with those fries,” he said, before quickly correcting himself. “Or tax increase.”
The Minnesota governor said just minutes later, in another apparent blunder: “This Donald Trump of 2016 is far more dangerous.”
He then changed course and said: “He is not the 2016 Donald Trump. This is a brand new version.”
Mr Obama, who largely repeated his stump speech from an event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania earlier this month, mocked Trump for bizarre town hall event where he spent 39 minutes swaying on stage.
“You’d be worried if grandpa was acting like this. You’d call up your brother. You’d call up your cousins. You’d say – ‘have you noticed?’ But this is coming from somebody who wants unchecked power,” the former president said.
“So Wisconsin, we do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails.”
Mr Obama was introduced by Eminem, the rapper, for an event later on Tuesday to address a rally in Detroit, Michigan.
“I think vice president Haris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld,” Eminem said.
The former president then quoted the rapper’s “Lose Yourself” after making his way onto the stage, adding: “Love me some Eminem.”
02:21 AM BST
That’s all for now
Thank you for following our live coverage of the events in Michigan and Wisconsin today. This live blog is now closed.
02:19 AM BST
Obama concludes speech
Barack Obama has now finished his stump speech in Detroit, Michigan.
02:03 AM BST
Watch: Obama introduced by Eminem in Detroit
01:57 AM BST
Watch: Obama raps along to Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’
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01:48 AM BST
‘Harris worked at McDonald’s – not Trump’
“She worked at McDonald’s when she was in college to pay her expenses,” Barack Obama says of Kamala Harris.
“She did not pretend to work at McDonald’s when it was closed,” he adds, alluding to a Donald Trump campaign stop at a Pennsylvania restaurant on the weekend.
Trump has claimed, without evidence, that Ms Harris is lying about working at McDonald’s.
She has not produced evidence to prove that she worked there in 1983, and the fast food giant has said its records do not extend back that far.
01:33 AM BST
Obama quotes Eminem onstage
“My palms are sweaty,” Barack Obama says, breaking into a version of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”
He adds: “Love me some Eminem.”
01:31 AM BST
Eminem: Harris will protect freedom
“It’s important to use your voice, so I’m encouraging everyone to get out and vote please,” Eminem says.
“I also think that people shouldn’t be afraid to express their opinions, and I don’t think anybody wants an America where people are worried about retribution.”
“I think vice president Haris supports a future for this country where these freedoms and many others will be protected and upheld.”
He then introduces Barack Obama to the stage.
01:27 AM BST
Eminem onstage at Detroit rally
Eminem, the rapper, is now onstage at the Detroit rally ahead of Barack Obama.
10:08 PM BST
That’s all for now
Thanks for following this live blog. We’ll be back later today when Barack Obama and Tim Walz campaign in Michigan.
09:45 PM BST
Obama wraps up speech
Barack Obama has now finished his rally speech in Madison, Wisconsin. He and Tim Walz will be making separate campaign appearances later today.
09:37 PM BST
‘Trump is taking advantage of vulnerable, desperate people’
Barack Obama hits out at Donald Trump for “making up stories” about the hurricane relief efforts and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“These are people at their most vulnerable. They’re in desperate situations, and you’re gonna make stuff up, and suddenly you’ve got FEMA workers being threatened,” Mr Obama says.
“People not applying for aid because they got told by a former president who’s running for that FEMA is not doing the right thing.”
09:32 PM BST
Obama: Trump put pandemic plan ‘into trash can’
Barack Obama claims Donald Trump dropped his administration’s plan for pandemic planning “into a trash can”.
“If you look at a country like Canada, their per capita death rate was 60 per cent lower than the United States. Now I want you to do the math.
“Let’s say we lost four million people from Covid in the United States, 60 per cent difference. That’s 600,000 people.”
He continues: “So if somebody tells you, it does not make a difference whether you elect someone who’s competent, somebody who cares about you, somebody who listens to experts… it makes a difference”.
Mr Obama says that Donald Trump’s rise had shown “how we seem to have set aside the values that we were taught”.
09:27 PM BST
Obama: I don’t watch the news – it’s too toxic
Barack Obama says he does not watch “cable news” because politics has become so “toxic”.
“There are times where I just don’t understand just how we got so toxic and just so divided… sometimes people just don’t want to pay attention to it,” he says.
“But elections really do matter. Who you vote for matters. Not because it’s going to change every problem we’ve got.
“We’re not going to eliminate poverty overnight. We’re not going to change race relations right away… We expect so much and then we’re disappointed when everything’s not immediately solved.”
Mr Obama continues: “What politics can do, what elections can do, they can make your life a little better… and that little but better or a little bit of worse, that adds up.”
“The Affordable Care Act – it didn’t eliminate all problems with healthcare. But there are 50 million people who got healthcare that never had it before,” he adds.
09:22 PM BST
Obama hits out at Trump ‘cronies’
“For Donald Trump and his cronies, freedom basically means getting away with stuff.” Barack Obama says. “If I want to bust a union… I can get away with that.
“So freedom is leeting people do whatever the heck they want with no consequences.”
09:17 PM BST
‘Jeeves, change that diaper’
“Do you think Donald Trump’s ever changed a diaper?” Barack Obama asks the crowd.
“He’d be like Jeeves – Jeeves, change that diaper. He’d have somebody else do it.”
09:15 PM BST
‘Trump couldn’t even get rid of ObamaCare’
“Donald Trump spent his entire presidency trying to tear it down,” Barack Obama says of the Affordable Care Act.
“And he couldn’t even do that right.”
Mr Obama goes onto ridicule Trump for claiming he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the healthcare insurance programme at the presidential debate in September.
09:13 PM BST
Trump accused of stealing credit for economy
Barack Obama accuses Donald Trump of stealing credit for the economy he left him.
“All he did was give a tax cut to people who didn’t need it, drive up the deficit in the process,” he says.
“So don’t have nostalgia for what his economy was. Because that was mine – and now he wants to do it again.”
09:11 PM BST
‘Trump is older, loonier – with no guardrails’
Barack Obama makes fun of Donald Trump’s recent town hall meeting in Pennsylvania, where the Republican spent 39 minutes swaying onstage to music.
“The goal of the town hall meeting is you meet with you constituents with citizens,” Mr Obama says.
“He decided… let’s just play music for half an hour. So he’s standing there and he’s swaying Ave Maria, YMCA.”
Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor who stood next to Trump onstage during the event, looked like she was in a “hostage video”, he continues.
“Can you imagine if Tim did that, or Kamala did that or I did that? Now our playlists would be better – but you would say to yourself, this is odd behaviour,” Mr Obama says.
Commenting on Trump’s claim to be “the father of IVF”, he says: I have no idea what that means. You don’t either.”
Mr Obama continues: “You’d be worried if grandpa was acting like this. You’d call up your brother. You’d call up your cousins. You’d say – ‘have you noticed?’ But this is coming from somebody who wants unchecked power.”
“So Wisconsin we do not need to see what an older, loonier Donald Trump looks like with no guardrails.”
09:06 PM BST
Obama ridicules Trump’s China stance
“When he’s not complaining, he’s trying to sell you stuff,” Barack Obama continues, firing out attacks on Donald Trump.
“Who does that? You’re running for president and you’re hawking merchandise.
“Gold sneakers, $100,000 watch… My favourite is the Trump Bible. It’s embossed with his name right on it. Matthew and Luke – and Donald. And I’ll give you one guess where those Bibles are made.”
Mr Obama continues: “He’s Mr Tough Guy on China, except when it comes to making a few bucks. You cannot make this stuff up. You really can’t.”
09:03 PM BST
‘This election is going to be tight’
Barack Obama admits the election is “going to be tight because a lot of Americans are still struggling.”
He continues: “So I understand why folks are looking to shake things up. I get it. What I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up in a way that’s good for you.”
09:01 PM BST
Obama appeals to Democrats to turn out
“If you haven’t voted yet, I won’t be offended if you just walk out right now,” Barack Obama says. Early voting in Wisconsin starts today.
“Don’t wait – I voted yesterday,” Mr Obama continues. “I was down in Chicago, got a ballot filled it in, and then I walked, which I don’t always get the chance to do… to a mailbox.”
09:00 PM BST
‘Walz is the kind of man who should be in politics’
“I love this guy. Love that dude. Love that man,” Barack Obama says, pouring praise on Tim Walz.
“The kind of person who should be in politics. You can tell those flannel shirts he wears have gotten some wear. They come from his closet – consultant didn’t give it to him.”
08:56 PM BST
Barack Obama up now
Barack Obama, the former US president, is heading out tot the rally stage to address the crowd.
08:55 PM BST
‘Vance is no Mike Pence’
Tim Walz takes a swipe at JD Vance, whom he faced on the vice presidential debate stage earlier this month.
“He’s on this ticket for one reason: he said he would not do what Mike Pence did which was put the Constitution and the American people over Donald Trump,” he says.
“And Lord knows, there’s not a single spine in the Republican congress that’s going to do a damn thing about it.”
08:51 PM BST
Walz misspeaks for second time
“This Donald Trump of 2016 is far more dangerous,” Tim Walz says, apparently misspeaking for a second time.
He corrects himself, saying: “He is not the 2016 Donald Trump. This is a brand new version.”
08:50 PM BST
Walz accucses Supreme Court judges of lying
Tim Walz has accused Donald Trump’s appointees to the Supreme Court of “Lying” about their intentions to uphold abortion rights.
“Donald Trump and the judges he appointed to the Supreme Court who lied about upholding Roe versus Wade – it’s called lying, they lied in front of the senate that they would uphold it,” he says.
08:45 PM BST
Walz commits gaffe over ‘Trump tax cut’
Tim Walz commits a gaffe as he takes another stab at Donald Trump over his trip to McDonald’s.
“The real question that people going through McDonald’s are going to be asked is, you want a Trump tax cut with those fries,” he says, before quickly correcting himself. “Or tax increase.”
08:37 PM BST
‘Musk is Trump’s real running mate’
Tim Walz jokes that JD Vance is being sidelined by Elon Musk, labelling the Tesla billionaire Donald Trump’s “running mate”.
He claims that Mr Musk was skipping “like a dips—” at a recent Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“That guy is literally the richest man in the world, spending millions of dollars to help Donald Trump buy an election,” Mr Walz says.
08:36 PM BST
Trump attacked over ‘cruel’ McDonald’s appearance
Referring to Donald Trump’s visit to McDonald’s, Tim Walz says there is “something cruel about a billionaire using people’s livelihood for a political prop”.
He accuses the Republican of “cosplaying” as fast foot workers and adds: “He looks much more like Ronald McDonald… Ronald wears less makeup.”
Mr Walz continues: “Next he’s going to be telling you he’s a cop or a construction worker. Because he dances to The Village People.”
08:34 PM BST
‘Donald Trump has no stamina’
“I cannot tell you how proud I am to be on this with vice president Harris,” Tim Walz says, mentioning his running mate for the first time.
“From the first days as she stepped into a courtroom as a prosecutor, to a district attorney, to the attorney general of the largest state in the union, to US senator to the vice president, she has had one client: the people.”
Reinforcing the closeness of the race, he says: “Our team is running like everything is on the line because everything is on the line.”
Mr Walz continues: “I am like one interview away from being a regular on one Fox News. But you know what you notice, it takes stamina to run for president, it takes stamina to be president.
“And Donald Trump does not have stamina. He’s been rambling more than the normal rambling.”
The Minnesota governor adds: “I don’t care how exhausted he is because I can promise you, he’s not as exhausted as the American people are off him.”
08:28 PM BST
Tim Walz walks onto rally stage
Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, is heading out onto the stage and being applauded by supporters. Barack Obama will seemingly be on after the Minneosta governor.
08:21 PM BST
‘Wisconsin could decide the next president’
Tammy Baldwin, the two-term senator locked in a tight re-election battle, is now addressing the crowd.
“It’s clear that governor Walz and president Obama know that the pathway to the presidency… runs directly through the Midwest, which means directly through Wisconsin,” she says.
“Because we are the battleground state. Wisconsin is likely to decide who our next president is and what party controls the United States senate.”
08:12 PM BST
Wisconsin governor heads onstage
Tony Evers, the Democrat governor of Wisconsin, is making his way onstage. “Hello Madison and hello Wisconsin,” he begins.
“How the heck are you?.. I am jazzed as hell to be here today.”
07:52 PM BST
West Wing actor speaks before Obama and Walz
Bradley Whitford, the West Wing actor, is pouring scorn on Donald Trump before Tim Walz and Barack Obama appear on stage.
He labels Trump a “malignant narcissist with a pathological need to tell people how good looking he is”.
Apparently referring to The West Wing, he continues: “It’s bad writing. It would have been laughed out of the room and it would have been insulting to Republicans.”
07:24 PM BST
Can the Obamas save Kamala Harris’s campaign?
David Christopher Kaufman, a New York Post columnist, writes:
Just a few weeks before election day, Barack is out there berating black men for not supporting Harris while Michelle will hit the ground with the vice-president in Georgia and Michigan next week.
Will it work? The problem is that, much like the Obamas back in July, voters (of all colours) don’t appear to be buying what Harris is selling.
Despite all that inimitable Obama star power, the former first couple missed their real moment to make the Harris campaign their own.
Read the full analysis here.
07:16 PM BST
Obama’s most controversial comment of the campaign
Barack Obama admonished black men for not turning out for Kamala Harris when he made his first appearance on the campaign trail earlier this month.
Ahead of a rally in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, the former president made a surprise pitstop at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh, where he said he wanted to “speak some truths” to black men, whom polls suggest Ms Harris has struggled to win over.
“My understanding, based on reports I’m getting from campaigns and communities, is that we have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighbourhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Mr Obama said.
Read the full story from Cameron Henderson here.
07:13 PM BST
What time is Obama due to speak?
Barack Obama is due to address a rally in Madison, Wisconsin at 2:30pm EDT. We’ll be liveblogging his remarks when he appears.
07:12 PM BST
Welcome
Hello and welcome to the live blog. Benedict Smith here. We’ll be bringing you all the updates as Barack Obama and Tim Walz address supporters in Wisconsin and Michigan today.
