First lady Michelle Obama ripped into Republican nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday, calling him out for his behavior and comments during Monday night’s presidential debate, and questioning where President Obama was born.
When Obama came into office, he had to put Americans’ minds at ease about his qualifications on numerous fronts, including “those who question, and continue to question for the past eight years, whether my husband was even born in this country,” Michelle Obama said at Philadelphia’s LaSalle University during a rally for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Hurtful, deceitful questions deliberately designed to undermine his presidency,” she said. “Questions that cannot be blamed on others or swept under the rug by an insincere sentence uttered at a press conference,” she said, referring to Trump’s claim last week that he finally believes that Obama was in fact born in Hawaii as his birth certificate says.
Obama said Trump’s temper disqualifies him from the presidency.
“We need someone who is steady and measured because when making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, a president can’t just pop off or lash out irrationally. No. We need an adult in the White House,” she said.
“The presidency doesn’t change who you are; it reveals who you are, and the same is true of a presidential campaign. So if a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears and lies on the campaign trail, if a candidate thinks that not paying taxes makes you smart or that it’s good business when people lose their homes, if a candidate regularly and flippantly makes cruel and insulting comments about women, about how we look, how we act, well sadly, that is who that candidate really is.”
“That is the kind of president they will be,” she said. “And trust me, a candidate is not suddenly going to change once they are in office.”
Obama also mocked Trump’s stint as a reality TV star.
“We know that being president isn’t anything like reality TV,” she said. “It is not an apprenticeship. It is not jut about fiery speeches or insulting tweets. It’s about whether someone can handle the awesome responsibility of leading this country.”
Obama praised Clinton as far and away the most qualified candidate on the ballot Nov. 8.
“She is one of the only people on the planet who actually has any idea what this job entails,” Obama said. “Clinton has seen the presidency from every angle and understands the stress and strain it puts on incumbents.
“And here’s the thing: She still wants to do this job,” Obama joked. “That’s dedication. That’s what love of country looks like.”
Obama also took on Trump’s assertion that Clinton doesn’t have the stamina to serve as president.
“Hillary’s resilience is more than proven,” Obama said, noting Clinton traveled to 112 countries as secretary of state. She also negotiated a critical cease-fire, got dissidents out of jail and “spent 11 hours testifying before a congressional committee.”
“Hillary is tough. And when she gets knocked down, she doesn’t complain; she doesn’t cry foul. No. She gets back up. She comes back stronger for the people who need her most,” Obama said before pleading with students to register to vote and come out on Election Day.
Staying home is not an option this year, she said.
“Elections aren’t just about who votes, but about who doesn’t vote,” she said, noting that voters under the age of 30 won her husband the 2012 election. Young voters were the difference in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, she said, pushing them to rally their friends on Election Day.
