Obama and Trump Hold Dueling Rallies in Final Stretch Before Midterm Elections
Photo: The New York TimesFormer President Barack Obama rallied in Detroit on Saturday for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson, while President Trump held several rallies in the final week before the midterm elections. At the get-out-the-vote event at Cass Technical High School, Obama said El-Sayed was born and raised in Michigan, the child of auto industry parents, and captained his high school football, lacrosse and wrestling teams. He joked about El-Sayed's "big guns" and his T-shirts. Obama said El-Sayed was fighting for real change: ending a war, getting money out of politics, finishing the work begun with the Affordable Care Act and guaranteeing affordable healthcare. He also praised El-Sayed for taking on crony capitalism. Trump's rallies included stops in deep-red states as he tries to keep Republicans in control of Congress, while Obama is headlining events meant to help Democrats flip it. The New York Times described the weekend speeches by the two men as starkly different in style and substance.
The left-leaning outlets, CBS News and The New York Times, treat the story as a national head-to-head. CBS leads with Trump's and Obama's rallies and what is at stake for control of Congress, with a report by Weijia Jiang and analysis from Robert Costa. The Times headline calls the speeches "dueling" and stresses the contrast between the two men's pitches. Neither excerpt gives the Michigan details. The right-leaning Daily Wire covers only Obama's Detroit appearance. Its headline says he "gushes" over El-Sayed's "big guns," and it calls the event a "last-ditch push" in a contentious race. It quotes the jock and T-shirt remarks at length and mentions neither Trump nor his rallies. Both sides report that Obama campaigned for Democrats in the closing days. They differ in scope: the left compares the two parties' leaders, while the right highlights Obama's praise of one candidate. Alternative and independent outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left- and right-leaning outlets had.
How the sides differ Left sources frame a Trump-versus-Obama contest over Congress; right sources focus on Obama's remarks about Michigan's El-Sayed; alternative sources had not covered it.
Headline, comparison and summary written by AI from the articles below. AI can make mistakes, so check the original articles before relying on a detail.
- The New York TimesPaywallHow Obama and Trump Made their Cases in Dueling Midterm Speeches
CBS News and The New York Times lead with Trump and Obama rallying for their parties before the midterms, presenting a contrast in their pitches, with analysis from CBS's Weijia Jiang and Robert Costa.
Not covering this story. None of the alternative or independent outlets Crosswire tracks has reported it yet. What one side leaves out can be as telling as what the others report.
The Daily Wire covers only Obama's Detroit rally for Abdul El-Sayed, quoting his jokes about El-Sayed's "big guns" and his praise for El-Sayed's stance on change, healthcare and crony capitalism.