Former US first lady Michelle Obama has launched a scathing attack on President Donald Trump, lambasting him as the "wrong president" for the United States and urging Americans to elect Joe Biden in November to end the “chaos created by Trump's presidency.”
"Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division, and a total and utter lack of empathy," Obama said on the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday.
In a poignant political speech, the former first lady urged Americans to go out and vote for presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in November like "our lives depend on it."
Taking a swipe at Trump's presidency, she slammed the support Trump has received from white supremacists, his immigration policies and how he has handled recent nationwide anti-racism protests.
“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.”
She said the US has been "living with the consequences" since the 2016 election results.
"As I’ve said before, being president doesn’t change who you are — it reveals who you are. Well, a presidential election can reveal who we are, too," Obama said. "And four years ago, too many people chose to believe that their votes didn’t matter."
"Maybe they were fed up. Maybe they thought the outcome wouldn’t be close. Maybe the barriers felt too steep. Whatever the reason, in the end, those choices sent someone to the Oval Office who lost the national popular vote by nearly 3,000,000 votes," she noted.
She made the pre-taped remarks at the start of the four-day nominating convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Obama added that, "You know how much I care about all of our children. So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can; and they will if we don’t make a change in this election.”
This year’s Democratic convention has been largely overhauled due to the coronavirus pandemic, with organizers eliminating largely in-person gathering and turning it into virtual speeches and events from around the country.
‘Most dangerous president in history’
Former Biden’s rival Bernie Sanders was also one of the major speakers at the convention.
Sanders said Biden's steady approach to problems was needed to confront the coronavirus pandemic, economic woes and racial injustice.
"Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created. He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the racist dog whistling, the religious bigotry and the ugly attacks on women,” Sanders noted.
He urged Democrats to come together and "remove the most dangerous president in history," because "the price of failure is just too great to imagine."
The Vermont senator galvanized his followers to support Biden, calling on them to back Biden in November or risk seeing democracy be thrown into doubt if Trump wins.
Prominent Republican John Kasich also described his opposition to Trump as a patriotic duty and said the US is at a crossroads.
He called Biden "a man who can help us see the humanity in each other."
Biden, 77, leads Trump, 74, in national opinion polls amid anger over Trump’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis and economic woes.
Trump will be formally nominated for a second term at next week's Republican National Convention, which also has been scaled back due to the coronavirus concerns.