US president Trump has been telling voters to view the midterm elections as if he were on the ballot, and on Saturday one of his Democratic predecessors did just that. Days away from the elections that will determine control of the closely divided Congress, Barack Obama took to the campaign trail to accuse the Republican president of corruption, deride his strategy for Iran and skewer the gilded aesthetic he has applied to White House renovations.Obama stumped for Democratic candidates at rallies in Cleveland and Detroit, lampooning the Trump administration. Campaigning in Michigan for US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Obama framed the Nov 3 vote as a “circuit breaker” to “at least rein in some of the foolishness” of Trump’s presidency. “We got to bring some accountability to this govt,” Obama said.Obama, president from 2009 until Trump began his first term in 2017, remains one of the most popular figures among Democrats. They hope that bringing him into the race can fire up their supporters for a tight US Senate race in which El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers, a former US representative.The former president obliged the Michigan crowd by playing to Democrats’ frequently repeated criticisms of Trump and of Republicans’ willingness to go along with him. “We have never seen a president excel in straight-up grifting, on your dime, like this,” Obama said. “Never seen a president so intent on selling favours like this … Now the party seems to stand for corrupt govt, or inept govt, or no govt.”The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in a Truth Social post on early Sunday, Trump called Obama a “grossly incompetent President” and labelled El-Sayed a “Muslim Brotherhood Jihadist, who hates Jews and Blacks and AMERICANS and TRUMP”.Obama also ridiculed the administration’s claims of victory against Iran. He argued that the war has given Iran more economic leverage because its threats to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have unsettled oil exporters.In his social media post, Trump derided the Obama administration’s approach to the Iranians, saying that he “paid off Iran with $Billions, and gave them a road to a Nuclear Weapon” with his 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action accord with Iran. US withdrew from the 2015 agreement during Trump’s first term.He also accused Trump administration of emphasising unimportant matters, sarcastically calling defence secretary Pete Hegseth someone “laser-focused on important matters like the jawline and testosterone levels of troops” and ridiculing White House renovations as tacky. “He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” Obama said.