AP Photo/John Minchillo
President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at Capital University, Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio.
"This guy? Don't be bamboozled. Don't run for that okey-doke."
It was a familiar refrain for Obama, who has been campaigning vigorously for Clinton over the past several weeks.
The president's speech in Columbus, Ohio, took a more urgent tone Tuesday, just a week out from Election Day. In criticizing Trump, Obama pointed to what he characterized as a lack of interest in policy, and a disdain for inclusiveness.
Offering a counterpoint to the GOP nominee's "divisive" campaign rhetoric, Obama said "You do this job for a while, and your love for this country just grows and grows ... this is a place like no other. it is founded on an idea that all of us are created equal."
Trump has also faced steady criticism for rhetoric that flouts some of the basic tenets of the US Constitution, including provisions that protect freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
During an interview with CBS Miami in October, Trump said, "Our press is allowed to say whatever they want and they can get away with it," while suggesting he would seek to weaken First Amendment protections, if elected.
Obama painted a stark picture of Trump's vision:
"If you disrespect the Constitution by threatening to shut down the press when it doesn't say things you like or threaten to throw your opponent in jail or discriminate against people of different faiths - if you do that before you are elected, then what are you gonna do when you have actual power to do those things?"
He suggested that Trump was more interested in promoting himself, rather than advocating for America, adding that presidential
Speaking to the heated bombast surrounding Clinton over the course of the election, Obama asked men in the audience to pause and take stock of their views.
"When a guy is ambitious and out in the public arena and working hard, well that's okay, but when a woman suddenly does it, suddenly you're all like, why's she doing that?
Clinton has been polarizing figure in the 2016 cycle, in part because of an ongoing FBI inquiry into a private email server from her time as secretary of state.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
FBI Director James Comey, testifies before a House Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee budget hearing about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's FY 2017 budget, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.
The matter gained new life last week when FBI director James Comey announced that new emails were discovered. The agency's handling of the case has led Clinton supporters to accuse Comey of employing a double-standard with the Democratic nominee.
Despite the email controversy, Obama argued that "there's something fundamental at stake" that puts Clinton above Trump, as the president ran through a litany of the real-estate mogul's controversial moves on the campaign trail.
"She is so much better qualified than the other guy," Obama said, before asking voters to choose Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
She's gotta have a Congress that behaves a little bit better than the Congress we have now," he said.
"You have a chance to reject those who would take us backwards and instead choose the progress that we can keep on making over the next four years, the next eight years, the next twelve years."