‘Take our lives seriously,’ Michelle Obama pleads as she rallies for Kamala Harris in Michigan
Michelle Obama delivered a searing denunciation of Donald Trump on Saturday in Michigan and challenged voters to support Kamala Harris as the United States’ first female president.
“By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady said. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?”
It was Obama’s first appearance on the campaign trail since she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago over the summer, and her remarks were forceful and passionate, even vulnerable.
She said she fears for the country and struggles to understand why the presidential race remains close.
“I lay awake at night wondering, ‘What in the world is going on?’” she said.
Her voice vibrating with emotion, Obama warned that Trump’s potential return to the White House would undermine women’s health and reproductive freedom.
“I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously,” she said.
The rally in Kalamazoo followed Harris’ visit to a doctor’s office in Portage to talk with healthcare providers and medical students about the impact of abortion restrictions. One of them said they have patients visiting from other parts of the country where there are strict limitations on abortion, and another said she’s worried that people won’t want to practice in important areas of medicine because of fears about government intrusion.
“We are looking at a healthcare crisis in America that is affecting people of every background and gender,” Harris told reporters before visiting the doctor’s office.
Meanwhile, President Biden went to a union hall in Pittsburgh to promote Harris’ support for organized labor, telling the audience to “follow your gut” and “do what’s right.”
Harris appeared with Beyoncé on Friday in Houston, and she campaigned with former President Obama and Bruce Springsteen on Thursday in Atlanta.
Former President Trump has again questioned U.S. election integrity, claiming without evidence that Democrats are cheating in the presidential race. Experts condemned the rhetoric.
It’s a level of celebrity clout that surpasses anything that Trump, the Republican nominee, has been able to marshal this year. But there’s no guarantee that will help Harris in the close race for the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump despite firing up her crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies.
Trump brushed off Harris’ attempt to harness star power for her campaign.
Harris and Trump went to Texas trying to sway undecided voters by focusing on the key issues of reproductive freedom and border security.
“Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” the former president said Friday in Traverse City, Mich. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, held a rally in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, on Saturday, during which he again denigrated Michigan’s largest city.
Saturday is the first day that early in-person voting became available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters.
When Clinton was running against Trump, Michelle Obama inspired Democrats with the slogan “when they go low, we go high.”
Many Trump supporters left a Michigan rally before he arrived after the former president kept them waiting for three hours to tape a Joe Rogan podcast.
But this year, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she adopted a more biting approach. She accused Trump of “doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
Here is former First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech, delivered Monday, on the first day of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
At a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Biden spoke with the Laborers’ International Union of North America. He mentioned that Harris once walked a picket line with the United Auto Workers — “she has a backbone like a ramrod” — while Trump has undermined organized labor.
“He views unions as getting in the way of the accumulation of wealth for individuals,” Biden said. “It’s in labor’s interest to defeat Donald Trump, more than any other race you’ve been in.”
Biden’s remarks to the mostly male audience referenced the gender divide that has been a consistent feature of this year’s presidential race.
Speaking on Trump, Biden said, “I’m just gonna say straight up, he’s a loser as a man.”
He also said that women deserve more opportunities than they’ve received in the past.
“They can do anything any man can do, including be president of the United States of America,” Biden said.
Associated Press writers Superville reported from Kalamazoo, Madhani from Pittsburgh and Megerian from Washington.
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