Michelle Obama delivered a blistering speech about the character of Donald Trump, as she gave the marquee speech on the first night of the Democratic National Convention that was the highlight of the evening and also an unusual moment in history.
“Let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can,” Obama said in her pre-taped remarks. “Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.”
The speech — unusual for a former First Lady — was a contrast to what she told the convention four years ago, when she had the most memorable line of the week. As Donald Trump was running a campaign defined by insult, she said, “when they go low, we go high.”
She referenced that on Monday. “Let’s be clear: going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty,” she said. “Going high means taking the harder path. It means scraping and clawing our way to that mountain top. Going high means standing fierce against hatred while remembering that we are one nation under God, and if we want to survive, we’ve got to find a way to live together and work together across our differences.”
More to come.
