First lady Michelle Obama ratcheted up her attacks on Republican nominee Donald Trump on Thursday, portraying him as a out-of-touch elitist who ignores average Americans while living “high up in a tower.”
Campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Phoenix, Mrs. Obama told supporters that Mr. Trump “just doesn’t understand us.”
“Perhaps living life high up in a tower, in a world of exclusive clubs, measuring success by wins and losses and the number of zeroes in your bank account, perhaps you just develop a different set of values,” Mrs. Obama said. “He does not see our shared humanity.”
Without mentioning the Republican nominee by name, the first lady went into a litany of examples of his isolation from the working class.
“Maybe that’s why this candidate thinks certain immigrants are criminals, instead of folks who work their fingers to the bone to give their kids a better life,” Mrs. Obama said. “Maybe that’s why he thinks we should be afraid of our Muslim brothers and sisters, because he really has no idea who they are. He doesn’t understand that they are us.”
Referring to accusations by several women that Mr. Trump made unwanted advances, the first lady said, “Maybe that’s why he demeans and humiliates women as if we’re objects meant solely for pleasure and entertainment, rather than human beings worthy of love and respect.”
She took aim at Mr. Trump’s description of black communities.
“Maybe that’s why he calls communities like the one where I was raised ’hell,’” Mrs. Obama said. “Because he can’t see all the decent, hard-working folks like my parents who took those extra shifts, paid their bills on time, folks who are raising amazing families, sending their kids to college.”
She criticized Mr. Trump harshly for saying in the final presidential debate Wednesday night that he would keep America in “suspense” over whether he’ll accept the results of the election.
“You do not keep American democracy in suspense,” the first lady said. “Too many people have marched and protested and fought and died for this democracy.”
The Clinton campaign believes it has a chance to win Arizona, a reliably Republican state that has only gone Democratic in presidential elections once since 1950. Noting that President Obama lost the state by about 200,000 votes in 2012, Mrs. Obama said Arizona is “going blue.”
“This year we know it’s much closer in this state,” she said. “That’s why I’m here.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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