Michelle Obama attacked Donald Trump, without ever mentioning the former US president by name, during a speech to a rapturous audience at the Democratic National Convention. “Who is going to tell him [Trump] that the job that he is seeking might be one of those Black jobs,” she told the crowd who met her comments with cheers and applause. She also made mention of what she called his “privilege” to “failing forward.
” “We will never benefit from the affirmative action of gender, race or wealth,” she said. “We don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others to get ahead.” The former first lady talked about the “contagious power of hope” as she began her speech.
“Something magical is in the air...
I’m talking about the contagious power of hope,” she said. “America, hope is making a comeback.” Ms Obama also sought to capture a flavor of the energy from her 2016 convention address when she encouraged Democrats to take the high road against Donald Trump: “When they go low, we go high.
” She warned Tuesday that Trump’s policies and rhetoric “only makes us small. And let me tell you — going small is never the answer.” She added: “Going small is petty — it’s unhealthy — and quite frankly, it’s unpresidential.
” She called Harris and running mate Tim Walz “good, big-hearted people.” In closing, she sought to warn Democrats not to become “their own worst enemies,” nitpicking qualities about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. “Kamala and Tim have lived amazing lives.
I am confident they will lead with compassion, inclusion and grace,” she said. “But they are still only human. They’re not perfect.
And like all of us, they will make mistakes.” She also derided the politics of petty spite, of book banning and misogynistic attacks before introducing her husband. “Before I go, I have one more job tonight,” Ms Obama said after concluding her speech before introducing “somebody who knows a whole lot about hope.
” She introduced Barak Obama, who she said still wakes up every day thinking about what he can do for the country. The couple hugged warmly, kissed and then held their clasped hands skyward as the former president took the stage. In his address, the former president called Trump “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.
” “It’s been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually gotten worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala,” he charged. Tuesday also saw Republicans who have left the fold since Trump’s takeover address the Democratic convention, including Trump’s former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham and former Trump voter Kyle Sweetser. Grisham described her journey from a Trump “true believer” to the first senior White House staffer to resign after the 6 January 2021 insurrection.
“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she said. “Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people.
And she has my vote.” Republican Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona, told the crowd: “I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle,” he said. Outside the venue, a demonstration near Chicago’s Israeli consulate briefly turned violent after a group of about 50 separated from the larger protest and pushed against a police line.
Several arrests were made..
