CHICAGO: Michelle Obama tore into Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention, criticizing his character and racist attacks that have targeted her and her husband Barack in the past.
“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black,“ the former first lady said of Trump late on Tuesday.
She also taunted Trump for his reference on the campaign trail to unspecified “Black jobs” which he claimed were being taken away from Black Americans by migrants crossing into the U.S.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs?’” Obama asked, drawing roars from the crowd.
Trump and his campaign have previously denied claims he had employed racist attacks.
At a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump complained that former President Obama had attacked him in personal terms during his convention speech. Trump himself has been criticized in recent weeks, including by allies, for attacking Harris rather than focusing on her policies.
“He was very nasty last night,“ Trump told the crowd. “I try to be nice to people, you know, but it’s a little tough when they get personal.”
Trump launched his political career with false, racist attacks on Barack Obama’s citizenship status and has reprised similar attacks on Harris. In the former first lady’s memoir, “Becoming,“ published in 2018, she wrote that Trump’s attacks on Barack Obama’s citizenship put her family’s safety at risk and had “underlying bigotry and xenophobia.”
Michelle Obama was speaking in support of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, who will formally accept the party’s nomination for president at the convention and, if elected, would be the first Black woman and South Asian president.
Obama also drew a contrast with Trump and most Americans who don’t grow up wealthy like Trump, whose father was a real estate investor.
“We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth,“ she said. “If we bankrupt a business … or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance,“ she said. “If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead.”
Trump, some Republicans in Congress, right-wing activists and online trolls have smeared Harris with racist and sexist attacks that have intensified since she began her presidential bid in July after incumbent President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Trump has also questioned Harris’ racial identity.
“It’s his same old con,“ Obama said, speaking of Trump. “Doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
She compared the energy in the Democratic National Convention arena and across the country for Harris to her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“Something wonderfully magical is in the air,“ she said to the delegates and guests crowded into Chicago’s United Center. “A familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for far too long. It’s the contagious power of hope.”
“Hope is making a comeback.”
Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign used the word “Hope” as a slogan to launch him into the White House as the nation’s first Black president.
Michelle Obama said Harris’ story is “your story. It’s my story. It’s the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a better life.”
She said the race between Harris and Trump will be close and urged people to organize and mobilize voters.
“No matter how good we feel tonight or tomorrow or the next day, this is still going to be an uphill battle … so we cannot be our own worst enemies,“ she said.
Before Biden dropped out of the race in July, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that only Michelle Obama outperformed him and led Trump 50% to 39% in a hypothetical matchup. Obama has said repeatedly she does not intend to run for president. She famously called on Democrats in 2016 to “go high” in response to attacks from Republicans.
