Donald Trump has hit back at Barack and Michelle Obama for “getting personal” in their attacks on him during speeches at the Democratic National Convention.
The former president and First Lady repeatedly criticised Trump, who replaced them in the White House in 2017, in primetime televised speeches from Chicago on Tuesday night.
It marked a shift in tone from the Obamas, who previously called on Democrats to avoid inflammatory language via the slogan: “When they go low, we go high”.
Trump responded on Wednesday afternoon by suggesting their comments justified his own focus on ad hominem attacks against opponents on the campaign trail.
“Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night? He was taking shots at your president. And so was Michelle,” the Republican candidate told supporters at a rally in North Carolina.
It was his first outdoor rally since surviving last month’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania and he spoke to the crowd from behind panes of bulletproof glass.
Trump went on to impersonate his campaign advisers. He said: “You know, they always say: ‘Sir, please stick to policy, don’t get personal’.
“And yet they’re [the Obamas] getting personal all night long, these people. Do I still have to stick to policy?”
The animus between Trump and the Obamas has a long history.
It began with Trump promulgating the baseless “birther” conspiracy theory that Mr Obama was not born in the US, and was therefore ineligible to serve as president.
Mr Obama retaliated by mocking Trump during a White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech, which was said to have motivated the Republican to stand for president in 2016.