Headlining his third and final fundraiser during a weekend trip to Chicago, President Obama called Donald Trump "insecure" and condemned the candidate's "unbelievable rhetoric."
"I know that it’s a cliché to say every four years that this is the most important election of your lifetime,'" he said, pausing a beat before adding, "This is the most important election of your lifetime."
Obama was speaking in support of Rep. Tammy Duckworth's campaign for U.S. Senate at the Stony Island Arts Bank on the city's Far South Side. It was his first public appearance since Friday's release of decade-old tapes in which Donald Trump made a series of profane, sexually charged comments about women.
"One of the most disturbing things about this election is just the unbelievable rhetoric coming at the top of the Republican ticket," Obama said. "I don't need to repeat it. There are children in the room."
The speech came just hours before the highly-anticipated second presidential debate.
"Demeaning women, degrading women, but also minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths, mocking the disabled," Obama listed off. "Insulting our troops, insulting our veterans - that tells you a couple things."
Local
"It tells you that he's insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down," the president said. "Not a character trait that I would advise for somebody in the Oval Office."
"It tells you that he doesn't care much about the basic values that we try to impart to our kids," he added. "It tells you he'd be careless with the civility and the respect that a real vibrant democracy requires."
