‘Childish’: Michelle Obama cuts loose in appearance on Kamala Harris’s behalf in key state
In a searing speech, former US first lady Michelle Obama has made the case for Kamala Harris – and against Donald Trump.
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Michelle Obama has hit out at Donald Trump, describing him as a “predator”, immature, a “known slumlord” and convicted felon.
The former US first lady pleaded with Americans to shut down the “ugliness” of Trump years as she spoke at a campaign rally for his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the key swing state Michigan today.
The presidential election is just 10 away, on November 5, US time.
In a broad ranging speech, Mrs Obama spoke at length about what she described as an ongoing threat to women’s reproductive rights and healthcare, and also questioned why the Demoncrats nominee was being held to a higher standard than Mr Trump.
“We expect her to be intelligent and articulate, to have a clear set of policies, to never show too much anger, to prove time and time again that she belongs,” she said.
“But for Trump, we expect nothing at all. No understanding of policy, no ability to put together a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morals. Instead, too many people are willing to write off his childish, mean-spirited antics by saying, ‘Well, Trump’s just being Trump.’ Rather than questioning his horrible behaviour.”
In her often searing remarks, Mrs Obama said many of those who served closely with the Republican nominee during his first term as president saw the “danger” and, as a result, were now refusing to publicly support him.
Among those critics is General Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff – America’s most senior military officer – under Mr Trump, and recently described the 78-year-old Trump as “a fascist to his core”.
“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Donald Trump’s gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn,” Mrs Obama said.
“I hope that you will forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behaviour, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn’t even have the courage to do.”
In any other profession or arena, Mr Trump’s criminal track record and amoral character would be “embarrassing, shameful” and he would be disqualified, she argued.
“I hope that you will forgive me if I am worried that we will blow this opportunity to finally turn the page on the ugliness once and for all, because, believe me, if Donald Trump is president again at some point or another, that ugliness will touch all of our lives,” she said.
“It will not matter what you look like, how you worship, who you love, or how you vote, if you don’t make six or eight or 12 figures. If you’re not famous, if you criticise or disagree with him in any way, if he doesn’t view you as his equal or relevant to his ambitions, I promise you, he will not think about you when he gets into the Oval Office, and that will have real consequences for all of us.”
When Mr Trump was first elected as 45th president of the United States in 2017, Mrs Obama said he was given a pass, with Americans rolling the dice when they catapulted him into the powerful position – betting that “he couldn’t possibly be that bad”.
She said others didn’t think it mattered who was the US president, while some “thought it’d be a good idea just to blow up our entire democracy”.
“Let us not forget the incompetence and the corruption, the chaos that was the cornerstone of his entire four years in office,” she added.
Mrs Obama cited examples from Mr Trump’s term, including his handling of the pandemic, for which she claimed he was “woefully unprepared”, endangered lives, sowed distrust in doctors and scientists and peddled fear and confusion.
“He had no clue how to get us out of that crisis, no ability to bring back the millions of jobs we lost so suddenly. No idea how to get our students back into school safely, no attempt to help stem the epidemic of loneliness and isolation that too many of our young people are still dealing with,” she said.
The US had one of the highest death rates in the world from Covid, while seven million more jobs were lost in America than in the combined nations of the European Union, she added.
“Again, all of this occurred with Trump in charge, and sadly, this was just this tragic exclamation point on his disastrous presidency installing judges and justices who have now stripped away our reproductive freedoms, cracking down on protesters marching to protect their sons from being shot because of the colour of their skin, rolling back protections for LGBTQ Americans, fanning conspiracy theories, unleashing hatred in our communities,” she said.
Then the American people “fired him from a job that was too big for him to begin with, he tried to steal it, egging on a violent mob that breached our nation’s Capitol”, she said.
In 2021, a congressional panel investigating the mob assault on the US Capitol laid out its case that Mr Trump and his claims of a stolen election were at the heart of what amounted to an “attempted coup” to remain in power.
The special committee sought to persuade a divided country of the existence of a deep-rooted and ongoing plot – orchestrated by the former president – to overturn the result of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.
Mrs Obama also questioned how Mr Trump would handle a natural disaster when he “spreads lies and conspiracy theories about climate change”, or the support he would offer for people facing the prospect of their jobs being replaced by technology.
She also asked the crowd how Mr Trump could protect black lives when he once took out a “full page ad to demonise innocent young black teenagers in New York City and who has dreamed openly about his own version of a purge”.
“Where, in his words, he has said for one day, one real rough, nasty day, he says he will allow cops to use violence indiscriminately, who I am sure has never spent a single second thinking about the lives on the other end of those batons,” she said.
Then there is the turmoil the US has been thrown into after the Supreme Court overturned a landmark legal decision which granted citizens the constitutional right to access abortions until the point of foetal viability, Mrs Obama said.
Known as Roe v Wade, the ruling had protected women since 1973, until it was sensationally overturned.
The popular wife of former president Barack Obama said Mr Trump had no “emotional maturity or foresight” to protect women.
“If Donald Trump wins this election, in states that are already putting abortion bans into effect, his FDA could further outlaw patchwork systems of telehealth appointments and mail order pills, thereby eliminating the last remaining protections for women in those states,” she warned.
“He could take actions that effectively ban abortion nationwide, which would put all of us in danger no matter what state we live in.”
“We will see more doctors hesitating or shying away from providing life saving treatments because they are worried about being arrested. More medical students reconsidering even pursuing women’s health at all. More OB gynaecological clinics without enough doctors to meet demand, closing their doors, leaving unsold numbers of women in communities throughout this country without a place to go for basic gynaecological care.”
She called on American men to step up and vote for the best presidential choice for the daughters, sisters, nieces and mums in their world and to take “their lives seriously”.
Mrs Obama confessed the race is too close, and she wants to see the “country finally turn the page on the politics of hatred and division”.
“What in the world is going on? And it’s clear to me that the question isn’t whether Kamala is ready for this moment, because by every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready the real country. The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?” she asked the crowd.
“To do what it takes to get her across the finish line, or are we going to let ourselves get distracted and fall for the scam? Are we going to lose sight of the dire consequences if we come up short and right now, folks, I have to be honest, I’m not completely sure of the answers to those questions.”
Michigan is a key state for both sides, but Democrats currently fear it is slipping away from them, with recent polls trending in Mr Trump’s favour.
The so called “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania have often voted for the Democratic candidate. The three helped propel Joe Biden to victory in 2020.
But anger from some communities in these states at the US’s backing of Israel in its war against Hamas, as well as the decent popularity for Mr Trump among blue collar workers, could see the wall break for the Republicans.
At the rally, Mrs Obama added that America needed “a grown up in the White House – someone with the maturity and fresh ideas to keep moving our country forward”.
She praised Ms Harris for spending her life fighting for the vulnerable and working class people, taking on big banks and transnational gangs with warmth and class.
Mrs Obama urged the enthusiastic crowd not to fall for the “scam” as she held a “genuine fear” for the country, its children and the direction it could go.
She said everyone knows she “hates politics” but she hates people being taken advantage of even more, adding too many Americans remained “confused and buying into the lies and distortions from people who do not have our best interest at heart”.
“There’s too much we stand to lose if we get this one wrong,” she said.
Originally published as ‘Childish’: Michelle Obama cuts loose in appearance on Kamala Harris’s behalf in key state
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