Former President Barack Obama criticized President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday over the war with Iran, calling the administration “not serious people” and saying Americans were paying the price for its decisions. Obama made the remarks at a rally in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was campaigning alongside Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown.
Turning to the Iran conflict, Obama argued that Trump had abandoned diplomacy with Tehran and left the United States embroiled in a war months after declaring victory. Obama pointed to the Iran nuclear agreement reached during his presidency, arguing that diplomacy had prevented Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Americans have been killed, hundreds of Americans have been wounded.
We have run down our stock of missiles,” he said. Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment. Obama then turned his attention to Hegseth, mocking the defense secretary over his focus on testosterone levels in the military.
And live streaming executions,” Obama said. Obama then made the criticism more personal. And the problem is, you end up having to pay the price for their lack of seriousness.” Obama’s attack comes after Trump repeatedly characterized the Iran conflict in terms that stopped short of calling it a war, even as the U.S. military death toll increased.
At an October 16 rally in Georgia, Trump described the conflict as a “military exercise” while discussing the performance of the stock market. And this is with the war,” Trump said. It’s a military exercise.” The remark came less than a week after the Pentagon raised its official count of U.S. troops who have died in connection with operations against Iran to 21.
The Pentagon had also reported 865 service members wounded. Trump previously called the conflict “small potatoes” and argued it should be regarded as a military conflict rather than a war. It’s not a big thing.” Obama also sought to connect the war directly to the cost-of-living pressures facing Americans ahead of the November 3 midterms.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
