Former First Lady Michelle Obama directly challenged former President Donald Trump over his decade-long effort 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 make people fear us,” Obama said. “Doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas 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 seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs’,” she quipped. The crowd roared with laughter at the joke, a reference to Trump’s recent comments suggesting that lower-skilled jobs are “Black jobs.”
In a statement to CNBC, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said her remarks were “unfounded personal attacks from washed up Democrats because they don’t have any real solutions for the problems everyday Americans face.”
“This is why Kamala and Democrats will lose in November— they’re more interested in personal grievances than in helping people,” Cheung added.
Obama’s unapologetically partisan approach to the Republican nominee Tuesday was rare for the former first lady, who has encouraged Americans to rise above politics.
One of the most popular figures in the Democratic party, Michelle Obama’s name was floated as a kind of fantasy presidential candidate earlier this summer, as Democrats pressured President Joe Biden to drop out of the race after his June debate performance.
But the former first lady has never publicly expressed an interest in running for elected office. On the contrary, Obama’s previous convention speeches often conveyed a clear desire to stay out of the political 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 high,” she said.
On Tuesday, she drew contrasts between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump that were meant to undermine Trump’s carefully cultivated image as a billionaire real estate and media magnate.
“Most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward,” said Obama. “We will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth.”
“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 cheating others, to get further ahead.
“We don’t get to change the rules so we always win,” she said.