FLINT, Mich. — Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden made blistering attacks on Saturday against President Donald Trump's character as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy.
The Democrats turned up their rhetoric against the Republican incumbent before a mostly African American audience in the parking lot of Flint's Northwestern High School with three days to go before Election Day. Trump is set to visit Michigan three times across two days on Sunday and Monday.
"But this Tuesday, everything is on the line," Obama said in a 25-minute speech before introducing Biden. "Our jobs are on the line. Our health care is on the line. Whether or not we get this pandemic under control is on the line."
But "you can choose a better America" by voting for Biden and running mate, Kamala Harris, he said at an event attended by almost 180 cars.
Obama argued that Trump treated the White House like "a reality show" to "feed his ego" instead of worrying about the safety of the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic. He mocked the Republican president for claiming without evidence at his Friday rally in Waterford Township that doctors are inflating COVID-19 deaths because they can profit off of the mortalities.
Biden followed by questioning how Trump could "have the gall" to make such claims.
"What in the hell is wrong with this man?" the former vice president asked before apologizing about his language. " ... It's perverted. He may believe it because he doesn't do anything other than for money.
"People of this nation have suffered and have sacrificed for nine months, none more so than the doctors and front-line health care workers, and this president is questioning their character, their integrity, their commitment to their fellow Americans? It's more than offensive. It's a disgrace
Biden and Obama pounded away on a variety of themes, including that Trump is set to leave office with fewer U.S. jobs than when he took office. Trump was on pace to add more jobs before the pandemic took hold in late February.
The Democratic duo also noted how COVID cases have exploded in recent weeks, arguing that the president hasn't taken the pandemic seriously and has put lives at risk.
Trump has "caused people to get sick from these rallies he has," Obama said, adding that some of the rallies have become "super spreader events."
There has been little proof that Trump's Michigan rallies have resulted in COVID-19 outbreaks. Through last Sunday, Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services had been made aware of one case stemming from Trump's Sept. 10 Freeland rally. It's not clear whether that individual contracted the virus before, after or at the rally, HHS spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin said last Sunday.
Trump's defenders have said the caseloads have risen across the country, including under the more restrictive policies of Democratic governors who reject the president's approach.
Trump responded on Twitter, arguing that the lead contamination of Flint's water after the city's water source was switched in 2014 happened during the watch of Obama and Biden.
"Biden & Obama owe a massive apology to the People of Flint. The water was poisoned on their watch," the president tweeted.
Trump also tied Biden to Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder, whose emergency managers approved and oversaw the water switch and whose Department of Environmental Quality was blamed for not requiring the inclusion of corrosion control chemicals in Flint's water. Snyder has endorsed the former vice president.
"Not only did they fail them, Biden proudly accepted the endorsement of disastrous Gov Rick Snyder! Unlike Biden, I will always stand with the People of the Great State of MICHIGAN!" Trump tweeted.
Biden and Obama are making a late push for support in Michigan, where Trump won by 10,704 votes four years ago.
Biden and Obama afterward are set to travel to Detroit, where another drive-in event will take place at 5:30 p.m. and feature Motown legendary singer Stevie Wonder.
In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton got about 102,000 fewer votes combined out of Genesee County, where Flint is located, and Wayne County, where Detroit is located, than Obama did four years earlier. The two counties have the largest percentages of Black residents in Michigan.
Before Obama and Biden took the stage, Whitmer called the Trump administration "cruel and callous" and said "the whole world is watching Michigan" and how it will vote.
Biden "is going to show up" for Flint when many others failed to do so over the water crisis and COVID-19, said U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, before Obama and Biden spoke. The congressman reminded the crowd to remember who "showed up" for Flint.
"The presidential election is going to be won right here in Genesee County," state Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said Saturday. "You know that's the case when both candidates are choosing to spend their last days on the campaign trail in our backyards, making their closing arguments for the presidency."
The Saturday stops come as Michigan moves into the national spotlight three days before the final votes are cast on Tuesday. While polling has shown Biden to have a lead, Trump's campaign has argued that the surveys have been off and has flooded the state with surrogates.
"It's critical and we need decency back in the White House," said Diane Zuckschwerdt, 50, of Owosso, who drove to Flint for the Obama-Biden rally.
Biden, Zuckschwerdt said, "can bring people together" because he has "decency and honesty."
John and Jessica Bates, of Livonia, drove up to Flint to hear Obama and Biden, a tandem they said they loved in the White House for the eight years prior to Trump.
"Obama..., he's a smart man. I think he was a great president," said John Bates, 71. "He's going to do a lot for Joe Biden" in motivating people to vote.
Jessica Bates, 67, said the race "is a little too close" and Obama's visit will help push Biden over the top in Michigan.
Donald Trump Jr. and rock musician Ted Nugent visited a gun company in Davison on Saturday morning.
The president himself held rallies in Lansing on Tuesday and Waterford on Friday. He will return for a Macomb County event on Sunday morning and two stops in Michigan on Monday, the eve of the election, including a final 10:30 p.m. rally in Grand Rapids, where he concluded his campaign four years ago.
"Michigan is very important. It's very important for Michigan that we win," Trump said at Friday's rally in Oakland County.
Biden led Trump by about 8 percentage points in a Detroit News and WDIV-TV poll of 600 likely Michigan voters, who were surveyed Oct. 23-25. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points.
However, both campaigns are closely watching absentee voting and turnout estimates in Michigan's largest cities, including Detroit, a Democrat stronghold where lower than expected turnout on Tuesday would be problematic for Biden and higher than expected turnout would likely hurt Trump's chances.
Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey warned at a Thursday news conference that her projection of 50% turnout in the city, while above 2016's turnout of 48.6%, was "not enough."
"We're tracking a little bit lower turnout," said Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, when asked about the early numbers in Detroit and Wayne County. "Of course, Election Day is around the corner. I just don't put too much weight into that until we, obviously, see those returns.
"A lot of voters are planning to show up on Election Day."
In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton received 76,000 fewer votes in Wayne County than Obama did in 2012. Clinton got 46,872 fewer votes in Detroit than Obama.
In two of the last three statewide elections, Obama, the nation's first African American president, has campaigned for Democrats in Detroit, a city where 79% of the population is Black.
On Oct. 26, 2018, he appeared at Cass Tech High School with U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and Gretchen Whitmer, who were on the ballot that year. In 2014, he campaigned for then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer at Wayne State University's Matthaei Center athletic gymnasium.
In addition to Saturday Detroit stop, Obama and Biden are also rallying voters in Flint, Michigan's eighth largest city, which was devastated by a lead-contaminated water crisis that began after it switched its water source in 2014.
The state of Michigan reached a settlement in August to pay $600 million to people harmed in the water crisis, with the majority of the settlement going to claims from Flint children.
In May 2016, Obama visited Flint, sipped filtered Flint water and assured residents that Flint's water was safe to drink from faucet filters.
Trump fared better in Genesee County, where Flint is located, in November 2016 than Republican Mitt Romney did in 2012 against Obama in part because he paid a September 2016 visit to Flint. Trump lost to Clinton in the county by about 18,500 votes or 9 percentage points in 2016. Romney lost to Obama by about 57,100 votes or 28 percentage points in 2012.
Clinton received about 26,000 fewer votes in Genesee County than Obama did four years earlier.
On Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in the county at a rally, where Maurice Davis, a Democrat and vice president of the Flint City Council, spoke in support of Trump.
Davis told The Detroit News his decision to back the GOP candidate was prompted by frustration with the conditions in Flint and the Black community.
