2020 race: Michelle Obama lashes Donald Trump in furious address

In her most pointed political attack yet, Michelle Obama painted the US as a country crushed, divided and hurting.

Michelle Obama has launched a scathing attack on the character of Donald Trump, accusing him of sowing chaos and division and of not being up to the job of president.

In her most pointed political attack yet, the former First Lady used her address to the Democratic National Convention to portray a dystopian view of America as a country crushed and hurting under the misguided rule of a leader lacking understanding or empathy.

“Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” she said in a prime time address by video to the virtual convention. “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.

“Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy,’ she said.

Ms Obama accused Mr Trump of labelling fellow citizens enemies of the state “while emboldening torch-bearing white supremacists.”

“Sadly, this is the America that is on display for the next generation. A nation that’s underperforming not simply on matters of policy but on matters of character,” she said.

Ms Obama was the headline act on the first day of the four day Democratic National Convention, the first ever virtual convention of its kind due to the risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The two hour prime time broadcast hosted by actress Eva Longoria was a deeply underwhelming and often clunky mixture of patriotism, interviews with ordinary Americans and speeches from Democrat politicians.

Ms Obama ended her speech by endorsing the former Vice President who she described as “A profoundly decent man guided by faith.

“(He) knows what it takes to rescue our economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country. And he listens. He will tell the truth and trusts science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team, and he will govern as someone who has lived the life the rest of us can recognise,” she said.

But the virtual broadcast of the first day of the convention was frequently disjointed and filled with technical glitches. It lacked anything like the emotion and passion generated by a traditional nominating convention.

Bernie Sanders spoke from his home in Vermont. Picture: Getty Images.

Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders did his best to inspire some passion in an address from his home in Vermont as he spoke. Senator Sanders called on his left-wing army of supporters to vote for the more moderate platform of Mr Biden despite their policy differences.

“My friends, I say to you, and to everyone who supported other candidates in this primary and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election: The future of our democracy is at stake. The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake,” Senator Sanders said in a speech from his home in Vermont.

The 78-year-old said this coming election was the most important in the modern history of this country.

“In response to the unprecedented set of crises we face, we need an unprecedented response – a movement, like never before, of people who are prepared to stand up and fight for democracy and decency — and against greed, oligarchy and authoritarianism,” he said.

“We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president. My friends, the price of failure is just too great to imagine.”

Donald Trump, campaigning in Wisconsin, chided Ms Obama for pre-taping her speech. “Who wants to listen to Michelle Obama do a taped speech?” he said.

“You want to go for a snooze. You know when you hear a speech is taped, it’s like there’s nothing very exciting about it, right?”

As Michelle said, we’ve got to do everything we can to elect @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. So make sure you have a plan to vote. Vote early. And tell everybody you know to register to vote at https://t.co/XdZz4dh82T. https://t.co/rAUsWHusbV

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 18, 2020

The president also stepped up his attacks on his Democratic opponent, describing him as “a Trojan horse for socialism.”

“Joe Biden is the puppet of left wing extremists trying to erase our borders, eliminate our police, indoctrinate our children, vilify our heroes, take away our energy,” he said.

Mr Trump said he would lose the coming election only if the system was ‘rigged’ against him.

The first day also featured speeches by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitman and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as former president aspirant Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Senator Klobuchar said; “We need a president for all of America. He’s a man of scrappy working class roots, he understands redemption and knows resilience.’

Ms Whitman, whose state of Michigan was raged early by the virus, accused Mr Trump of being a leader ‘who fights his fellow Americans rather than fight the virus that’s killing us and our economy.”

The convention also showed speeches from disenchanted Republicans who urged voters to vote for Biden rather than for the Republican incumbent.

The former Republican Governor John Kasich told the convention; “I’m a lifelong Republican, but that attachment holds second place to my responsibility to my country. That’s why I’ve chosen to appear at this convention. In normal times, something like this would probably never happen, but these are not normal times.”

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia