First Ladies, a Possible First Gentleman Make the Case for Candidates in Race’s Final Stretch
Plus, Michelle Obama Challenges apathy and Melania Trump appearances are less rare this week.
Sitting and former first ladies and a prospective first gentleman crowded the campaign trail in the week leading up to Election Day. Political events in battleground states saw appearances from presidential spouses, mostly in the Democratic field with the exception of a second unexpected appearance this week from Melania Trump.
Over the next two days, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has scheduled a string of stops in Georgia and Pennsylvania in the closing stretch of the election to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Saturday, the first lady will make stops in Georgia at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Macon and Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. On Sunday, Biden will travel to Pennsylvania where she is scheduled to attend political events in Montgomery County and King of Prussia and Harrisburg.
Voting: A ‘forever proposition’
In Atlanta Tuesday, exactly one week before Election Day, former First Lady Michelle Obama made her second appearance on the campaign trail in a week. This time, though, she was not there, she said, “to get into any specific races or candidates.” Instead, Obama urged voters not to be apathetic, specifically targeting her message to young people and people of color who, historically, are underrepresented at the polls.
The former first lady, who is co-chair of the nonprofit When We All Vote, challenged the notion that some people may choose to sit out on Election Day believing that their vote won’t count.
“I’m always amazed at how little so many people really understand just how profoundly elections impact our daily lives,” Obama said. “If you want your life and your future to look better, you got to vote because in this election, every issue you can possibly care about is on the ballot.”
“I’m always amazed at how little so many people really understand just how profoundly elections impact our daily lives,” Obama said. “If you want your life and your future to look better, you got to vote because in this election, every issue you can possibly care about is on the ballot.”
She went on to explain how only a few votes in past elections impacted future outcomes like how the election in 1968 and 2000 went on to shape the future of the country. Many in the audience were too young to recall those eras.
“Our vote is our power,” Obama said, trying to snap people out of skipping the election. She described her presence, over the years, around wealthy and powerful people who she said could not care about voter apathy and that voter absence is taken as consent. “In fact, they welcome it,” she said. “They are happy to be in full control of this game.”
She warned young people of how social media videos, algorithms on phones and even a guy on a podcast can be designed to alienate and distract people. She noted that most powerful people vote and that only a few very wealthy people in the world can afford to be indifferent about politics.
She urged people to take small actions that can have cascading effects at getting people to the polls. Obama began by telling the crowd to talk with their immediate family members about coming up with a voting plan and then reach out to their friend circles.
“People tend to listen to people they actually know,” she said.
Come the day after Election Day, Obama said, the work would not be done.
“We have to stay engaged even after Election Day,” she said, “because we don’t just need to protect democracy, we need to improve it, y’all. And, that’s a forever proposition.”
Hillary Clinton former aide says 2016 lesson was ‘complacency’
On Thursday, longtime Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin, appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe talking about former first lady and former Democratic presidential nominee Sec. Clinton’s appearance at a packed Carnegie Hall less than a week before Election Day. Clinton’s appearance was part of her book tour, but she also spoke about what’s at stake in the election.
Abedin reflected on how complacency may have contributed to Clinton’s loss against Trump in 2016.
“In the end, as we saw in the numbers, people did not necessarily, particularly women, didn’t show up because they assumed she was going to win,” Abedin said, adding that at the time Clinton revealed a lot of things about Donald Trump including that there would be Supreme Court justices that he would appoint that would overturn Roe v. Wade.
On Saturday, Clinton will participate in two political rallies supporting the The Harris-Walz campaign, according to a spokesperson. Clinton was already scheduled to appear at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts to talk about her new book, Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty.
Emhoff vows to ‘extinguish epidemic of hate’
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff has saturated social media and continued adding campaign stops stumping for his wife as the election season is down to its final days. On Monday, Emhoff was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, commemorating the lives lost in the Tree of Life mass shooting the day after the anniversary of the massacre that occurred on Oct. 27 in 2018.
There, he repeated his wife’s and his commitment to “extinguishing this epidemic of hate.” The shooting was the deadliest attack on the Jewish faith in American history.
During the event, he credited his wife for encouraging him to live proudly and fearlessly as a Jew, he said. It was his wife, he added, who encouraged him as second gentleman to fight antisemitism. In that capacity, Emhoff has established the first ever National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which mobilizes the full force of the federal government to protect Jewish communities.
Emhoff turned the audience’s attention to the choice between Harris and Republican candidate former President Donald Trump whose former aides told The Atlantic that he needs “the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
“Whenever chaos and cruelty are given a greenlight, Jew hatred is historically not far behind. That matters so much today because Donald Trump is nothing if not an agent of chaos and cruelty,” Emhoff said.
Pennsylvania is a hotly-contested battleground state where Emhoff is expected to speak at another campaign event in West Chester Friday evening.
Melania Trump on returning to the White House
Only days remain before voters could see former First Lady Melania Trump return to the White House. Mrs. Trump in another unexpected public appearance on FOX this week told viewers they are seeing her more now in the final stretch because she wants to support her husband.
The former first lady responded to a series of questions from the co-anchors and audience including asking what she thought about the election rhetoric calling Donald Trump a second Hitler.
“It is terrible,” she said. “He is not Hitler and his supporters stand behind him because they want to see the country [be] successful.”
The interview comes on the heels of a surprise appearance at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday and less than a month after Mrs. Trump released her memoir Melania that she has mostly promoted on social media.
When asked if she was feeling anxious about potentially becoming first lady again, she said no.
“I’m not anxious. This time is different. I have more experience and knowledge,” she said. “When you go in you know what to expect. You know what kind of people you need to get. People on your team that have the same vision as me.”
She went on to say while serving in the White House that she accomplished a lot with her Be Best initiative domestically and internationally, but that the work never ends.
“So many new issues will come in 2025. We never know what will come. Children are suffering. We need to help them and educate them,” she said.
When the panel raised the topic of the two assassination attempts on her husband’s life, Mrs. Trump described the election year environment as “different.”
“It is much more dangerous and I am very vigilant and selective where I go, what I do. You never know,” she said.
As Election Day nears, Donald Trump’s legal matters remain unresolved.
To that, Mrs. Trump brushed off as “part of the politics” adding that when her husband was elected in 2020, she knew it would not be easy and that people would come after him.
“They did. I always say, ‘What is next?’” she said.
The Trumps are expected to spend Election Day in Palm Beach where the former first lady said they will cast their votes.
Weekly Wrap
Weekly Wrap is a collection of headlines from the past week. Some publications have paywalls.
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Oct. 29, 2024 — Contemporary wives of GOP presidents have delivered impactful and important addresses at the Republican National Convention. Such speeches by Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, and Melania Trump helped shape these women’s public personas and legacies and, in some cases, altered perceptions of their husbands. Wives were also busy on the campaign trail and each approached it her way. Find out how Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, and Melania Trump approached the campaign trail. This is the second in a two-part discussion on first ladies on the campaign trail. View here
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