President Trump renewed his attacks on Barack Obama on Monday night, even as his voice showed signs of strain after days of nearly nonstop rallies aimed at keeping Republicans in control of Congress.
“I should save my voice because Barack Hussein Obama — have you heard of him?” Trump told a Mississippi crowd, responding to comments Obama made Saturday suggesting the president was too focused on renovating the White House.
“I didn’t take any time,” Trump said. “I literally do it when I walk home from the Oval.”
Trump also took issue with Obama’s reference to the Cheesecake Factory, describing the restaurant chain as “a very successful company.”
“He doesn’t like successful companies,” Trump said.
Obama, campaigning for Democrats in Ohio on Saturday, had mocked Trump’s emphasis on construction, telling supporters the president “should be on HGTV.”
“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama, the 44th president, said.
Trump mounted an extended defense of the White House work, which has included demolishing the East Wing to make room for a ballroom, repairing and repainting the North Portico columns, paving portions of the Rose Garden and adding gold-colored fixtures to the Oval Office. He said the changes were needed to preserve and maintain the historic property.
“Nobody loves it like I do,” Trump said of the White House. “Nobody loves it, and now the White House is in beautiful shape.”
“We have to have a beautiful, beautiful, well-kept White House, a symbol of our country,” he added.
Trump’s political message came through clearly, even as his voice struggled. He has had difficulty projecting during rallies in recent days and kept Monday’s Mississippi event to just under 90 minutes, considerably shorter than his usual speeches, which often approach two hours.
Acknowledging his raspy voice, the president urged his supporters to turn out for next week’s election.
“God didn’t make your vocal cords to do a rally every day, but when you love the people, it’s fine — and we love you, we really do,” Trump said.
Trump is following an intense campaign schedule that includes more than 30 stops before Election Day.
“We’ve been doing the rounds. We’ve been doing the rounds,” he said.
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The president campaigned in Georgia on Saturday and Michigan on Sunday. His schedule calls for two stops in Texas on Tuesday, a visit to Ohio on Wednesday, a South Carolina rally Thursday and an appearance in Florida on Friday.
Trump pledged to campaign for Republican candidates throughout the remaining eight days.
At Monday’s rally, Trump said Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, is doing “great.”
He said he traveled to the deeply Republican state, which he carried by nearly 23 percentage points in the 2024 election, to “make sure” of the outcome.
Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982.
“I’m here because Cindy’s doing great, but I just got to make sure I can’t take a chance,” he said.
Democrats face an uphill battle to win control of the Senate, needing victories in several red states to take the majority. But party strategists believe traditional Republican strongholds like Texas, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and Alaska are in play.
The problem, Trump explained, is “sometimes when you think somebody’s doing so well, nobody votes. They all stay home.”
“Then bad things happen,” he added.
Trump touched on several topics, including repeating his call for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to resign from Congress, and admitting he never liked the cease-fire with Iran.
“We did a little ceasefire, which I never liked very much,” he said, calling it “sort of a waste of time. But, you know, you like to listen to professionals.”
His administration reached a cease-fire with Iran in June, but that deal quickly collapsed.
The president’s biggest applause of the night came when he made a promise close to voters’ hearts.
Musing about how he’d like to rename a river and an ocean as he renamed a gulf and a lake, the president reassured the crowd that one river is off-limits.
“I promise I will never change the name of the Mississippi,” he said as the crowd gave a thunderous roar of approval.
