‘Do not boo – vote’: Obama warns sequel ‘usually worse’ than first movie as he rounds on Trump
Barack Obama has warned the sequel is “usually worse” than the first movie as he and Michelle Obama tried to rally their party in the race against Donald Trump.
Speaking on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Mr Obama said the country does not need another four years of “bluster” and “chaos”.
“We have seen that movie before – and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” he said.
Latest from Democratic convention
“It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala,” he added.
“There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes… it just goes on and on and on.”
Criticising Mr Trump’s record while he was in office, the crowd booed loudly, to which Mr Obama said in an unscripted moment: “Do not boo – vote.”
Pic: Reuters
“We have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her,” he had told the crowd, with Ms Harris confirmed as the party’s pick for November’s election.
In tribute to outgoing President Joe Biden, who beat Mr Trump in the last election, he said history will remember him for having “defended democracy at a moment of great danger”.
‘Hope is making a comeback’
Barack Obama embraced Michelle Obama after she introduced him. Pic: Reuters
Mr Obama was introduced by his wife, Michelle, who tops the party’s wish list as a future president.
Greeted with a long and loud ovation, Mrs Obama told the convention: “America, hope is making a comeback.”
She described Ms Harris as one of the “most qualified” people to ever seek the office.
Taking aim at Mr Trump, she said: “Who is going to tell him the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?”
She was referring to Mr Trump’s unsubstantiated claim made earlier this summer that immigrants are taking “black jobs”.
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‘Do something,’ Michelle Obama says
While Ms Harris was not at the convention to respond to the Obamas’ backing, she spoke at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, where she said the election will be a “tight race until the very end”.
“We have some hard work ahead of us, but we like hard work – hard work is good work,” she said.
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Kamala Harris: ‘We’re fighting for the future’
Former Trump fans turn
Meanwhile, Mr Trump repeated unsupported claims Ms Harris took a permissive approach to law enforcement at a campaign stop in Howell, Michigan.
“You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread,” he said. “You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped.”
He spoke one month after white supremacists rallied in the small town, where about a dozen chanted “Heil Hitler” and carried “White Lives Matter” signs.
Donald Trump speaking in Howell. Pic: AP
‘Basement dwellers’
Former Republicans who became disillusioned with Mr Trump’s leadership addressed the Democratic convention, including former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
She became a member of Mr Trump’s family, she said, and wasn’t just a supporter but a “true believer”.
Behind closed doors, however, she says he mocks his supporters – calling them “basement dwellers”.
She recalled a hospital visit where he “got mad that the cameras were not watching him”.
“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she added. “He used to tell me ‘it doesn’t matter what you say Stephanie, say it enough and people will believe you’.”
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Ms Harris “tells the truth”, she said – a view shared by John F Kennedy’s grandson, who said she has the same “energy, vision and optimism for the future” as his grandfather.
Celebrities also turned out, with rapper Lil Jon launching into Turn Down for What to introduce delegates from Georgia, while actress Eva Longoria spoke for Texas.
Beyond the convention, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters charged a line of police outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago.
After the larger gathering began to disperse, splintering off into smaller groups, other clashes with police led to more than a dozen arrests.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
A manhunt is under way for an ex-soldier suspected of kidnapping and murdering his three daughters in Washington state.
Officers said Travis Decker, 32, has “extensive” military training and could pose a “significant risk” but they aren’t sure if he’s armed.
Police, the FBI and US marshals are all involved, with drones and aircraft deployed to scour remote forested areas.
The alarm was raised on Friday when the girl’s mother reported her daughters – aged nine, eight and five – missing after Decker didn’t return following a planned visit of three hours.
Wenatchee police began the search over the weekend, looking for the white pick-up Decker is believed to live out of.
The truck was found on Monday near a campground west of Leavenworth, about 70 miles east of Seattle, with the girls’ bodies found in “relatively close proximity”, according to police.
Evelyn, Paityn and Olivia Decker attended Lincoln Elementary in Wenatchee school district.
Decker is said to have ‘extensive’ military training. Pic: Wenatchee Police Department
Their mother told police the girls didn’t return as planned at 8pm on Friday and that Travis Decker’s phone went straight to voicemail.
A detective for the Wenatchee force said she “expressed concern because Decker reportedly has never done this before and… is currently experiencing some mental health issues”.
Officials said Decker joined the US Army in 2013 and moved to the Washington National Guard in 2021, becoming part time in the last few years, but stopped attending drills about a year ago.
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The public have been warned to not approach Decker and to call 911 immediately.
Questions are being asked about whether time was wasted in escalating the search after police requested an amber alert from state patrol on Friday night but it didn’t meet the criteria.
It wasn’t until Wenatchee detectives provided extra information on Saturday that an endangered missing person alert was issued.
Washington State Patrol public affairs director Chris Loftis said a parent not returning their child on time was a “rather common occurrence and not something where you just automatically assume abduction”.
“We’re people too, you know, so the loss of a child, the loss of two children, the loss of three children is… devastating,” he said.
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