Michelle Obama blasted for 'dismissive' and 'out of touch' comments on MAGA supporters
Topics: Michelle Obama, Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Marcus Ingram/Getty Images
Topics: Michelle Obama, Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Michelle Obama has come under fire for her comments about people who voted for Donald Trump, claiming that they only did so because ‘they didn’t know what else to do’.
The former first lady, who lived at the White House for eight years during her husband Barack Obama’s presidency, was recently quizzed by Sam Fragoso on his Talk Easy podcast about how she feels about America now Trump is back in office.
"I was deeply, deeply disappointed," she said of his two election wins. "But my husband is such a good person to have for context and clarity."
Michelle continued: "And he’s right, that outcome has as much to do with the people’s pain and confusion about where they are in their lives."
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The mom-of-two went on to say that the US has not ‘completed the assignment of actualizing this democracy’, noting that while it may work for some, a lot of the time it doesn’t work for others.
She further touched upon the wealth gap that’s widening each year in the US and how this is causing people to ‘fall between the cracks’.
"When you don’t have a chance and you’re doing everything you’re supposed to do, [...] that makes you angry and it makes you susceptible to find someone to blame other than the people who are rightfully part of the problem," Michelle went on to divulge.
"That's true that anger, you know, I can't look some people in the face and tell them you have no right to be angry or to do something that maybe is against your own interest," she continued.
"That's what — that's human nature. Many of the people who voted for my husband twice."
With this in mind she believes that Trump voters shouldn’t be ‘pigeonholed’ into being labeled as racists.
Michelle shared: "You can't just pigeonhole them and say you just don't care, and you're racist or whatever you're thinking. This is an act of 'I don't know what else to do.'"
"I just wish we had more leaders that were figuring out how to do more for the middle class, for the working folks, because those are the folks who are drowning in this economy," she added.
"It's not me anymore, but I know those folks, and they're good people, and they don't have a way out and that makes for bad choices."
While Michelle may have come across as somewhat sympathetic to those who voted for Trump, others have called her 'out of touch' for implying that MAGA supporters only brought Trump in because they didn't know what else to do.
Discussing the matter on Sky News Australia's The Kenny Report, contributor Kristin Tate said: "Liberals still fundamentally don't understand Trump voters. When she says people voted for Trump because they didn't know what else to do, that sounds incredibly dismissive."
Tate went on: "This is why Democrats struggle with working-class voters; they analyse voters like anthropologists instead of just listening to them."
She continued to suggest that people like Michelle should actually ask a Trump voter why the wanted him to be president, adding that most Liberals won't even know Trump voters to ask.
UNILAD has approached the Obamas for comment.