Michelle Obama Delivers Strong Closing Message for Harris in Michigan

Former first lady Michelle Obama delivered a strong speech at a rally in Michigan in which she contrasted Kamala Harris with former President Donald Trump.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Michelle Obama didn’t mince her words.

The former first lady hit the campaign trail Saturday, opening for Vice President Kamala Harris in Kalamazoo on the first day of early voting in Michigan, where the Democratic presidential candidate is locked in a stalemate with Trump. During his speech, Obama warned against a second Trump term.

“I hope you’ll forgive me for being a little frustrated that some of us are ignoring Donald Trump’s gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn,” Obama said. “We expect her to be intelligent and articulate, to have a clear set of rules, to never show too much anger, and to prove time and time again that she belongs. But we expect nothing from Trump, no understanding of politics, no ability to put together a coherent argument, no honesty, no decency, no morality.”

Obama’s terse remarks in support of Harris were the strongest by any Democratic Party official, including her husband, who was campaigning for the incumbent vice president while Harris delivered her closing argument against Trump.

“This is someone who understands you.”

Harris has targeted her campaign in Detroit and hosted an event with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney aimed at wooing anti-Trump Republicans in the city’s suburbs earlier this week.

On Saturday, she and Obama targeted a decidedly different crowd: apathetic voters who say they don’t know enough about Harris and her background.

“Michigan, don’t fall for the lie that we don’t know who Kamala is and what she represents,” Obama said. “He’s someone who understands you all, someone from a middle-class family raised primarily by his mother.”

Obama delivered a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention, but he hasn’t spoken at a campaign rally in nearly eight years. “I haven’t done this in such a long time,” Obama said during her warm-up.

She said Trump won in 2016 because he got a pass. “Let’s not forget how bad it ended for all of us.”

Harris fills arenas, stands up to her critics, Obama said.

“Unlike her opponent, she does not avoid interviews or hide in safe spaces, only in the presence of a supportive audience,” she added. “No, she shows us what a reasonable, stable leader looks like.”

The former first lady referred to a message Harris delivered in the final days of the race about Trump’s fitness to hold office. In her speech, Harris sharply criticized Trump as lost, unstable and increasingly unbalanced.

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Michelle Obama on Trump: ‘Remember how woefully unprepared he was’

Before the rally began, participants said Harris’ argument worked. They mentioned democracy, and to a lesser extent the economy and the right to abortion, as the most important election issues.

“Democracy. We have to keep it,” said Mike Simmons, 44, a Kalamazoo resident who works in manufacturing. “Honestly, I don’t think it will last if we lose this election.”

In her speech, Obama sought to remind voters why Trump was removed from office. She sought to quell some voters’ positive feelings about finances while he was in office, saying he didn’t know how to handle the crisis when the pandemic hit.

“Remember how woefully unprepared he was, how he sowed the seeds of fear and confusion, putting lives at risk with his lies and ignorance, denigrating the doctors and scientists trying to help us,” she said. “Do you want to talk about plans? Well, my husband left him a very detailed pandemic plan and you know what he did? He ignored it.”

Obama made a special appeal to women to vote, especially those who live in households where they are ignored and undervalued. She told them that your vote was a “private matter.”

“Regardless of your partner’s political views, you have a choice. You can use your own judgment,” she said. “Remember that women standing up for what is best for us can change these choices.”

Messages taped to the inside of stalls in the arena’s women’s restrooms confirmed her point. “FROM WOMEN TO WOMEN” – we read in capital letters – “NO ONE will see your vote at the ballot box.” It included a QR code leading to the home page of the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org.

Kamala’s silent voter

Sheri Millard, 62, of Portage, Michigan, pointed to the Post-it notes at the stalls.

“I think there are a lot of people who support Kamala who don’t want to say that,” Millard said.

Millard predicted that women would side with Harris in large numbers in the election and would be able to vote for her without telling their husbands.

Obama mentioned reproductive health at length in her speech, and her sharpest comments were directed at men. She explained to them in gruesome detail what could happen to the women in their lives if they lost access to reproductive health care, and warned them of the impact that abortion restrictions could have on their sons.

“I don’t want to be depressed, yeah,” she said at one point. Minutes later, she implored them not to let their frustration with the lack of progress in society prevent them from voting for Harris.

During a performance about their location, voters wore T-shirts welcoming her to “Kamalazoo.” Obama sent the crowd into a frenzy when she mentioned the largely Democratic city by changing it to Harris’ name in the introduction.

“I know you want to say Kamalazoo, I heard you,” Harris later told a voter at the beginning of her speech.

The vice president’s speech largely focused on pointing out the differences between her platform and Trump’s.

As at previous rallies, Harris told a supporter who interrupted her with news of Trump’s convictions that the matter would be decided by the courts.

Harris was also interrupted midway through her remarks by a pro-Palestinian protester.

“When it comes to Gaza, we must end this war,” Harris said. “We must end the war and bring the hostages home. But now I’m talking about 2024.”

Harris returned to her page-turning message on Trump.

Contributor: Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY