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President Trump slammed former President Barack Obama as Obama returned to the 2020 campaign trail to stump for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden — while the two men faced off in what were essentially dueling campaign rallies.

Speaking to his supporters Wednesday evening at a rally in Gastonia, North Carolina, Trump mocked his predecessor for how his campaigning in 2016 for then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton turned out.

“[Obama] said, ‘He will not be our president.’ Before that, he said, ‘He will not run.’ Then I ran. Then he said, ‘He will not get the nomination.’ Then I got the nomination. Then he said, ‘He will not be our president.’ Then I won,” Trump told the crowd in the newly purple state.

“The only one more unhappy than Crooked Hillary that night was Barack Hussein Obama,” he continued.

At one point, the 45th president remarked on a conversation he had with an individual about his predecessor hitting the campaign trail as Election Day draws near.

“Somebody said, ‘Sir, maybe this isn’t good. President Obama’s campaigning for Sleepy Joe Biden.’ I said, ‘That’s good news or bad news? Tell me, are you saying it’s good or it’s bad?’ ‘Well, I guess it’s bad.’ No, it’s good. There is nobody that campaigned harder for Crooked Hillary Clinton than Obama. He was all over the place,” Trump said, explaining his lack of concern about the 44th president trying to boost Biden’s 2020 effort.

He also noted that it “took forever” for Obama to endorse his former vice president amid a crowded primary field.

Obama had stayed out of the Democratic presidential primary, declining to endorse any candidate until the selection process was complete and a nominee had been chosen.

What the current president didn’t address directly was his predecessor’s remarks earlier Wednesday evening in Philadelphia, Pa., where Obama slammed Trump for his rhetoric — something that he argued “emboldened” Americans to be negative.

“There are consequences to these actions. They embolden other people to be cruel and divisive and racist, and it frays the fabric of our society, and it affects how our children see things. And it affects the ways that our families get along,” the 44th president said during his first solo rally of the 2020 campaign season.

“It affects how the world looks at America. That behavior matters. Character matters. And by the way, while he’s doing all that, it distracts all of us from the truly destructive actions that his appointees are doing all across the government, actions that affect your lives,” he continued.

President Trump remained unfazed by his predecessor getting involved in the 2020 race late Thursday morning, saying in a tweet that the effort would help Republicans.

“Obama is campaigning for us. Every time he speaks, people come over to our side. He didn’t even want to endorse Sleepy Joe. Did so long after primaries were over!” he wrote on the social media platform.

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