Former first lady Michelle Obama plays the race card to the hilt in a stunningly harsh attack on President Donald Trump in a “closing argument” video appeal to voters released Oct. 6 in support of Democratic White House nominee Joe Biden.
In the highly combative video, Obama directly asked undecided voters to ponder the plight of black Americans living under the Trump administration, “the millions of folks who look like me and fought and died and toiled as slaves and soldiers and laborers to help build this country.”
‘Terrified’ by Trump
“Put yourselves in our shoes for just a moment,” she implored. “Imagine how it feels to wake up every day and do your very best to uphold the values that this country claims to hold dear – truth, honor, decency – only to have those efforts met by scorn, not just by your fellow citizens, but by a sitting president.
“Imagine how it feels to have suspicion cast on you from the day you were born, simply because of the hue of your skin,” Obama continued. “To walk around your own country scared that someone’s unjustified fear of you could put you in harm’s way, terrified of what four more years of this kind of division might mean for the safety of you and those you love.”
From there, she ratcheted up the intensity.
“We know what happens next. A racial slur from a passing car. A job promotion that never comes. A routine traffic stop gone wrong, maybe a knee to the neck. Racism, fear, division, these are powerful weapons and they can destroy this nation if we don’t deal with them head on.”
‘Overwhelmingly Peaceful’ Protests
In what would appear to be a major signal that Democrats still see the turbulent street protests resulting in rioting and looting in American cities since the death of George Floyd in late May as a winning issue, Obama stoutly defended the activists involved in the ongoing agitation without directly using the term Black Lives Matter:
“But right now, the president and his allies are trying to tap into that frustration and distract from his breathtaking failures by giving folks someone to blame other than them. They’re stoking fears about black and brown Americans, lying about how minorities will destroy the suburbs, whipping up violence and intimidation. And they’re pinning it all on what’s been an overwhelmingly peaceful movement for racial solidarity. It’s true. Research backs it up. Only a tiny fraction of demonstrations have had any violence at all.”
Polls have shown a precipitous decline in Americans’ support for the BLM movement as protests have increasingly descended into chaos and destruction. Obama’s remarks come one week after Biden dismissed Antifa radicals as “an idea, not an organization” during the first presidential debate with Trump on Sept. 29.
Obama called Trump a racist while downplaying reports of violence at social justice rallies as “crazy conspiracies.”
“So what the president is doing is, once again, patently false,” she said. “It’s morally wrong and, yes, it is racist, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work. Because this is it a difficult time, a confusing time, and when people hear these lies and crazy conspiracies repeated over and over and over again, they don’t know what to think.”
‘Chaos, Violence and Confusion’
Obama reinforced the dark and sinister themes of Biden’s nomination acceptance speech at August’s Democratic National Convention in urging voters to reject the dystopia that is everyday life in Trump’s America:
“I want to ask every single American, no matter what party you normally vote for, to please take a moment to pause. Click off the news. Think about how you felt over these last four years, how quickly things have turned and then think about what the next four years could mean for our country’s future, the message we will send to our children about who we are and what we truly value. Think about what would possibly compel you to accept this level of chaos, violence, and confusion under this president and be willing to watch our country continue to spiral out of control. Because we can no longer pretend that we don’t know exactly who and what this president stands for.”
“Look, you all know that politics has never been my thing,” Obama claimed toward the end of her address as she urged “young people” and “all the black and brown folks” to turn out and vote for Biden.
“Right now, we’ve got a chance to start getting things back under control, to restore some stability and integrity and soul in this country. It is within our grasp,” she exclaimed.
There is much to ponder here on what this incendiary speech means for the direction the Biden campaign will take in the final weeks before the Nov. 3 election. The highest profile woman of color in the Democratic Party has let loose an inflammatory race-based attack on Trump one day before the second most prominent Democrat woman of color, Biden running mate Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), takes the stage for her anticipated debate against Vice President Mike Pence.
An already thoroughly nasty 2020 presidential campaign is poised to get even uglier.
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Read more from Joe Schaeffer.
