Michelle Obama brands Donald Trump ‘racist’ in scalding video

The former first lady also accuses US president of ‘willful mismanagement’ of the COVID-19 crisis in the country.

Former US First Lady Michelle Obama has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump, calling him a “racist” president whose strategy of fear-mongering, division and promoting ugly conspiracy theories could “destroy” the United States if he is re-elected.

In a 24-minute video offering closing arguments for Democratic White House nominee Joe Biden four weeks before election day November 3, Obama described Trump and his Republican allies as unfairly “stoking fears” about Black Americans.

Obama also accused him of “willful mismanagement” of the coronavirus crisis, noting that notes that more Americans have died from COVID-19 than died in the Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Korean wars combined. She charged that with respect to the virus, “our commander-in-chief, sadly, has been missing in action.”

‘Trump spreading lies’

Trump was “morally wrong” for taking actions that intimidate voters and for are “lying about how minorities will destroy the suburbs,” which she said was meant to “distract from his breathtaking failures”.

My heart goes out to everyone touched by this virus, from those at the White House, especially the Secret Service and residence staff whose service ought never be taken for granted, to all those names and stories most of us will unfortunately never know. https://t.co/dtEUrcjPAy

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 6, 2020

“What the president is doing is once again patently false, it’s morally wrong, and yes, it is racist,” said the 56-year-old wife of Barack Obama, the first Black US president.

But she warned such tactics have the potential to work, particularly because Americans lack the time and energy to fact-check everything being spread online or in US media.

“Because this is a difficult time, a confusing time, and when people hear these lies and crazy conspiracies repeated over and over and over again, they don’t know what to think,” she said.

“And the one thing this president is really, really good at is using fear and confusion, and spreading lies to win,” Obama added.

Trump has declared himself the “law and order” president, and has repeatedly slammed protesters taking on racial injustice as violent extremists.

Obama’s video targets a wide range of voters. Along with speaking to “Black and brown folks,” she urged white Americans to imagine “the millions of folks who look like me, and fought and died and toiled as slaves and soldiers and labourers to help build this country.”

Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are due to take part in the second presidential debate on October 15 [Brian Snyder/Reuters]

Obama’s remarks took a personal turn. As a Black woman, like the majority of those in the country, having “done everything in my power to live a life of dignity and service and honesty, the knowledge that any of my fellow Americans is more afraid of me than the chaos that we are living through right now, well that hurts,” she said.

“It is a heaviness that sits on our hearts.”

Obama also criticised Trump’s belittling of US military personnel as “losers” and his devotion to “enriching himself” and wealthy cronies.

Biden, she said, offers contrasting values aimed at helping working-class families, healing divisions and protecting the environment.”

Search your hearts and your conscience, and then vote for Joe Biden like your lives depend on it,” she said.