Michelle Obama Absence Spotlights Memoir

President Donald Trump (2nd-L) First Woman Melania Trump (L), former President Barack Obama (2nd-R) and former First Woman Michelle Obama stroll collectively following the inauguration, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2017. | Supply: Pool / Getty

Little to no data was given to assist clarify the report that former First Woman Michelle Obama wouldn’t be attending Donald Trump‘s presidential inauguration on Monday. Nevertheless, a glance again in time to eight years in the past seemingly greater than solutions the query of why she received’t be on the West Entrance of the U.S. Capitol as Trump will get sworn into workplace for a second time.

The Workplace of Barack and Michelle Obama stated in a press release on Tuesday that “Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the sixtieth Inaugural Ceremonies” earlier than including that “Former first woman Michelle Obama is not going to attend the upcoming inauguration.”

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The assertion got here days after Michelle Obama missed former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in Washington, D.C., an absence that CNN attributed to a “scheduling battle” whereas she was “in Hawaii on an prolonged vacation trip.”

It’s unclear if Michelle Obama will nonetheless be in Hawaii on Monday. Nevertheless, what appears to be abundantly clear is that Michelle Obama has had sufficient of Donald Trump.

Maybe her absence from his second inauguration is an instance of her deciding to “go excessive” when Republicans “go low,” as they’ve deliberate to do as soon as Trump takes workplace with Venture 2025 and extra.

And/or, presumably extra precisely, her introduced absence from Monday’s inauguration might be higher understood by way of her personal commentary about Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 as present in her subsequent memoir, Changing into.

Launched in 2018, the e book had Michelle Obama taking a number of direct photographs at Trump. That features ripping Trump for selling the racist “birther” conspiracy principle that questioned whether or not her husband was born in america.

“The entire [birther] factor was loopy and mean-spirited, after all, its underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly hid. However it was additionally harmful, intentionally meant to fire up the wingnuts and kooks,” Michelle Obama wrote. “What if somebody with an unstable thoughts loaded a gun and drove to Washington? What if that particular person went in search of our women? Donald Trump, together with his loud and reckless innuendos, was placing my household’s security in danger. And for this I’d by no means forgive him.”

However she additionally addressed “the optics” she displayed at Trump’s first inauguration, which can or could not have factored into the choice in opposition to attending the occasion this 12 months, if a quick passage in her memoir was any indication.

“Somebody from Barack’s administration might need stated that the optics there have been unhealthy, that what the general public noticed didn’t mirror the President’s actuality or beliefs, however on this case, perhaps it did,” Michelle Obama wrote. “Realizing it, I made my very own optic adjustment. I ended even attempting to smile.”

Days later, Michelle Obama expounded on that sentiment throughout an interview with Oprah Winfrey and stated she cried after the inauguration.

“After I obtained on the airplane, I sobbed for half-hour,” Michelle Obama advised Winfrey a couple of second that was not included in her memoir. “I believe it was simply the discharge of eight years attempting to do the whole lot completely.”

She additionally added: “I stated to Barack, ‘That was so onerous, what we simply did. That was so onerous.’”

With that context, who might fault Michelle Obama for not attending Trump’s second inauguration?

That is America.