Former first lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday accused former President Donald Trump of telling “racist lies” as she christened Vice President Kamala Harris as the heir to her husband’s hope-and-change coalition.
“America, hope is making a comeback,” Mrs. Obama said to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
In a fiery speech, Mrs. Obama said she and former President Barack Obama faced off against racist jabs from Mr. Trump and predicted he would unleash them against Ms. Harris, too.
She called Mr. Trump “un-presidential” and she mercilessly mocked him for saying that illegal immigrants were taking “Black jobs.”
“Who’s going to tell him the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs,’” she said.
In a night of vicious speeches about Mr. Trump, Mrs. Obama’s may have been the most effective.
“If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third or fourth chance. if things don’t go our way we don’t have the luxury of whining or cheating others,” she said, referring to Mr. Trump’s pre-political career as a casino owner and real-estate tycoon.
“If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top,” she said.
Mrs. Obama contrasted her depiction of Mr. Trump’s career with Ms. Harris, who she said shared a similar upbringing as herself in a family with a middle-class moral compass.
“She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward,” Mrs. Obama said.
Curiously, for a woman who spent eight years in the White House where President Biden was vice president, she shied away from talking about him.
Media reports have suggested some tension between her and the Biden family, and the Obamas were seen as a critical factor in ushering Mr. Biden out of the race.
On Tuesday, Mrs. Obama seemed to sweep Mr. Biden’s four years up with Mr. Trump’s tenure as an era of doom.
“To be honest, I am realizing that until recently I have mourned the dimming of that hope and maybe you’ve experienced the same feelings, that deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future,” she said.
The answer, she said, is Ms. Harris.
“It’s the contagious power of hope,” she said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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