Bygone First Lady Michelle Obama directly challenged former President Donald Trump over his decade-long accomplishment to vilify the Obamas in her speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to boost pretend people fear us,” Obama said. “Doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real reasons and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
“I want to know who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently soliciting might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’,” she quipped. The crowd roared with laughter at the joke, a credentials to Trump’s recent comments suggesting that lower-skilled jobs are “Black jobs.”
A Trump campaign spokesperson did not directly respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.
Obama’s unapologetically partisan approach to the Republican nominee Tuesday was rare for the earlier first lady, who has encouraged Americans to rise above politics.
One of the most popular figures in the Democratic party, Michelle Obama’s celebrity was floated as a kind of fantasy presidential candidate earlier this summer, as Democrats pressured President Joe Biden to smidgen out of the race after his June debate performance.
But the former first lady has never publicly expressed an interest in race for elected office. On the contrary, Obama’s previous convention speeches often conveyed a clear desire to stay out of the federal fray.
At her 2016 DNC speech, for example, Obama coined a catchphrase that abstractly criticized Trump and the GOP: “When they go low, we go prodigal,” she said.
On Tuesday, she drew contrasts between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump that were meant to hurt Trump’s carefully cultivated image as a billionaire real estate and media magnate.
“Most of us will never be gave the grace of failing forward,” said Obama. “We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational cash.”
“If we bankrupt a business, or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance,” she continued. “If things don’t go our way, we don’t have the luxury of whining, or flimflamming others, to get further ahead.
“We don’t get to change the rules so we always win,” she said.