Michelle Obama warns that Trump is ‘in over his head’
Former first lady Michelle Obama has warned the 2016 Democrat National Convention that things can still get worse under Donald Trump’s leadership.
“If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me they can; and they will, if we don’t make a change in this election,” Mrs. Obama told her party in a blunt and emotional appeal that capped the first night of the Democrats’ convention.
Outlining the dire stakes for the election ahead, she said President Trump was “in over his head” and the “wrong president for our country”.
And warning of possible voter suppression, she told Americans they must vote for Joe Biden “in numbers that cannot be ignored” if they want to preserve the “most basic requirements for a functioning society.”
The scathing assessment was delivered in the last and longest speech in the Democrats’ experiment with a virtual convention in the coronavirus era, a spot Mrs Obama earned through her overwhelming popularity in her party.
“The president is clearly in over his head,” she said.
“It is what it is,” Mrs. Obama said – echoing a remark Trump made recently about the US Covid death toll.
Citing the pandemic, the flagging economy, the political unrest that’s broken out nationwide over systemic racism and what she described as America’s lack of leadership on the world stage, Mrs Obama said the nation is “underperforming not simply on matters of policy, but on matters of character”.
In contrast, Mrs Obama said, Biden is a “profoundly decent man” who “knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country.”
She recounted how Biden has prevailed through the personal tragedy of losing his first wife, baby daughter and adult son and said Biden will “channel that same grit and passion to help us heal and guide us forward.” Republican Trump succeeded President Barack Obama, in 2017 and has tried to undo many of Obama’s achievements on health care, the environment and foreign policy, among others.
Mrs Obama spoke about the importance of voting in the 3 November election, which will take place amid a pandemic that has killed more than 170,000 Americans and infected more than 5 million.
Wearing a necklace that spelled out the word “Vote”, she noted Trump lost the popular vote but still won the White House.
Her remarks came as debate rages in Washington about US Postal Service changes that are delaying mail deliveries around the country, and amid legal battles in several states over access to mail-in ballots.
“We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we’ve got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to,” she said.