President Donald Trump criticized former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech as he announced his decision to posthumously pardon suffragist Susan B. Anthony.
On Tuesday morning, the president spoke at a White House event for the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage where he took aim at Obama for her virtual speech.
According to Trump, the speech was taped “a long time ago” because the number of coronavirus-related deaths she cited was lower than the current statistic.
“She was over her head, and frankly, she should’ve made the speech live, which she didn’t do,” Trump said. “She taped it. … It was taped a long time ago because she had the wrong deaths. She didn’t even mention the vice-presidential candidate in the speech.”
The president went on to describe Obama’s speech as “extremely divisive.”
“She gets these fawning reviews. If you gave a real review it wouldn’t be so fawning,” Trump added. “I thought it was a very divisive speech. Extremely divisive.”
See Trump’s remarks below:
Trump disses Michelle Obama: “She was over her head, and frankly, she should’ve made the speech live, which she didn’t do, she taped it. And it was not only taped, it was tape a long time ago, because she had the wrong [coronavirus] deaths.” pic.twitter.com/Ckyj3wtoWq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 18, 2020
The president’s criticism of Obama comes just hours after her speech aired during the Democratic National Convention on Monday evening. The former first lady scrutinized the Trump administration’s pandemic response and overall leadership.
Trump’s critical remarks of Obama’s speech have resulted in Twitter users pointing out the fact he clarified the COVID-19 death count actually reflects poorly on him.
Viewers noted how alarming it is that more than 20,000 additional Americans have died from the coronavirus within the short time span between last night when Obama’s speech aired and when it was recorded in July.
See the reactions below:
Trump says Michelle Obama should've made her speech live: "It was taped a long time ago b/c she had the wrong (COVID) deaths."
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) August 18, 2020
More than 21K Americans have died since she recorded it earlier this month.
Not sure how Trump's attack reflects well on his handling of the pandemic.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Too many have died of coronavirus under Trump.
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) August 18, 2020
TRUMP: Even more, actually! https://t.co/4Sq7dN2QDl
Trump attacks Michelle Obama for pre-recorded speech at #DNCConvention. "She taped it. It was taped long time ago because she had the wrong deaths," he says. (Michelle says 150,000, not 170,000). In doing so he reminds us all that *20,000* have died from coronavirus in just weeks
— Josie Ensor (@Josiensor) August 18, 2020
With the reopening of states over the summer, 40 out of 50 states previously faced significant upticks in coronavirus cases. Subsequently, the death toll has also risen to an average of approximately 939 deaths per day.
As of Tuesday morning, there are more than 5,614,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. The death toll has now surpassed more than 173,000.