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From expressing her fear as a mother and a Black woman in America to listing the ways President Trump failed the American people before and during the pandemic — our forever first lady Michelle Obama made a final plea for why Americans should support Joe Biden four weeks before Election Day.
“If you’re a parent like me, you’re feeling the consequences of this president’s failure to take this pandemic seriously,” she said Tuesday morning. As a result of Trump’s inability to see the severity of COVID-19 and the importance of social distancing and wearing masks, it in return has lead to pressure for schools to stay open without a concrete plan or support to keep both students and faculty members safe from the virus.
As the former first lady addresses the current “endless cycle of uncertainty” U.S. citizens find themselves in, she makes it clear that it “didn’t have to be like this” as other countries didn’t endure the same extended suffering.
“These countries were hit by the same viruses we were. They have the same kind of resources to contain it as we did,” she said. “But what they didn’t have to contend with was this president. A man who had every resource at his disposal.” Yet according to Obama, he knew how deadly the virus is but “lied to us and told us it would just disappear.”
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More Americans have died from this virus than in the wars from Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Korea combined and doubled. Nonetheless, the 56-year-old New York Times best-selling author states that the pandemic is just one example of his negligence. She later addresses how the “commander-in-chief sadly has been missing in action” for the climate crisis, racism, and police brutality.
“When Americans of all backgrounds peacefully protest racism and police violence, he disparages them yet eggs on heavily armed militias.” Obama also points out that only a small fraction of demonstrations have lead to any violence at all.
“So what the president is doing is once again, patently false. It’s morally wrong. And yes — it is racist.”
Obama also notes that Trump is using his ability to spread conspiracies, lies, and confusion “to win.”
She expressed the same feeling that many others have expressed before her: “Terrified of what four more years of this kind of division might mean for the safety of you and those you love.” Specifically to those who have cast a suspicion “on you from the day you were born simply because of the hue of your skin.”
In Michelle Obama’s words: Take a moment to pause. Click off the news. Think about how you felt over these last four years. And then think about what the next four years could mean for our country’s future.
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