Michelle Obama says too many voters are ignoring Trump's behavior: NPR

Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan on October 26, 2024.

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Standing in front of a few thousand people at a Kalamazoo event center on the first day of early voting in Michigan, Michelle Obama admitted she was frustrated — and a little angry — about some of the reasons she'd heard, according to People hold back on supporting Vice President Harris.

Addressing directly the stark gender gap that polls show is a feature of this presidential campaign, Obama railed against “the lie that we don't know who Kamala is or what she stands for,” saying that too many voters have that opinion reject former President Donald Trump's character and track record on a variety of issues.

Trump was also campaigning in Michigan this weekend, making a stop in Traverse City late Friday night and a second in the Detroit suburbs on Saturday.

Polls show the race is extremely close in swing states like Michigan, and Democrats – including former President Barack Obama – have worked urgently to build enthusiasm for Harris among black men, young voters and other parts of the Democratic base.

“I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little frustrated that some of us are ignoring Donald Trump's gross incompetence and asking Kamala to blind us at every turn,” the former first lady said in her first appearance on the campaign trail Harris.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Michelle Obama at a rally on October 26, 2024 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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“I hope you'll forgive me if I'm a little annoyed that we're indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his past as a convicted felon, a known slumlord, a predator convicted of sexual abuse – all of it “of this as we pick Kamala's answers from interviews he doesn't even have the courage to do, y'all,” she said.

Obama described Harris as an “adult” with clear policies and said she feared that “too many people are willing to dismiss Trump's childish, mean-spirited antics by saying, 'Well, Trump is just Trump,' rather than asking questions.” .” his terrible behavior. Some people think he’s funny.”

“That's exactly how he was elected the first time around – people gave him a pass and rolled the dice that he couldn't possibly be that bad,” she said.

Harris and Obama focused on women's health care

Harris focused much of her remarks Saturday on abortion restrictions. She had visited a local doctor's office in Kalamazoo before the rally and spoke with providers and medical students about concerns that Trump would expand abortion restrictions nationwide if he won.

Her Friday night rally in Houston also included doctors who argued that new abortion restrictions would leave them unable to provide women with adequate care.

“Remember how we got here,” Harris said at Saturday’s rally. “Donald Trump handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intent that they would strip away protections from… Roe v. Wade. They did what he intended,” she said.

Obama pointedly cited a long list of everyday women's reproductive health problems – cramps, nausea, hot flashes, lumps and Pap smears – and said a second Trump presidency could have a “chilling effect” on doctors willing to respond to specialize women's health care because of abortion restrictions.

In her remarks, she specifically addressed men and stressed that further restrictions on abortion and other aspects of women's health care would also affect them and their sons.

“I ask all of you from the bottom of my heart to take our lives seriously — please,” Obama said. “Don’t put our lives in the hands of politicians – mostly men – who have no idea or care about what we go through as women.”