Donald Trump’s “obvious mental decline” and “history as a convicted felon” should be enough reason for Americans not to vote for him, Michelle Obama has said.
Speaking at a rally for Kamala Harris, the former first lady said she was “angry” at the “indifference” towards the Republican candidate’s behaviour.
“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behaviour, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon,” she said.
Image: Michelle Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. Pic: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
“A known slumlord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse, all this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers in interviews he doesn’t even have the courage to do.
“So, I am praying that those of us contemplating voting for Trump or not voting at all will snap out of whatever fog they are in.
“In any other profession or arena, Trump’s criminal track record and amoral character would be embarrassing and shameful and disqualifying.”
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During the event in Michigan, Mrs Obama said Democratic candidate Ms Harris was “building a remarkable campaign in record time”.
It comes as Kamala Harris was filmed swearing and joking and she drank a beer – appearing to forget the media were present.
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Chatting at a bar after the Michigan rally, she noticed the cameras.
“Oh, we have microphones in here listening to everything – I didn’t notice that. We just told all the family secrets, shit,” she said while laughing.
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The US vice president seems to temporarily forget the microphones are on as she enjoys a beer after a rally in Michigan.
Earlier, Mrs Obama discussed women’s reproductive rights, criticising the US Supreme Court’s decision to reverse the landmark Roe v Wade ruling paving the way for half the country to severely restrict or completely ban abortion.
“I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously,” she said.
“Please do not put our lives in the hands of politicians, mostly men, who have no clue or don’t care what we as women are going through.
“The only people who have standing to make these decisions are women with the advice of their doctors.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Trump took to the stage roughly an hour and 40 minutes late at his rally in State College, Pennsylvania, as the crowd chanted “get him here already”.
Image: Pic: AP Photo/Paul Sancya
Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported that when Mr Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller got up on stage, the rally booed and groaned.
On Friday night in Traverse City, Michigan, Mr Trump was so late after a three-hour interview with podcaster Joe Rogan that many people left before he arrived.
Anti-Trump protests took place across America on Saturday, with demonstrators decrying the administration’s immigration crackdown and mass firings at government agencies.
Events ranged from small local marches to a rally in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the start of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago.
Thomas Bassford, 80, was at the battle reenactment with his two grandsons, as well as his partner and daughter.
He said: “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty. I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
At events across the country, people carried banners with slogans including “Trump fascist regime must go now!”, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” and “Fight fiercely, Harvard, fight,” referencing the university’s recent refusal to hand over much of its control to the government.
Some signs name-checked Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen living in Maryland, who the Justice Department admits was mistakenly deported to his home country.
People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. In San Francisco, hundreds of people spelt out “Impeach & Remove” on a beach, also with an inverted US flag.
People walked through downtown Anchorage in Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating, including one that read: “No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”
Image: Pic: AP
Protests also took place outside Tesla car dealerships against the role Elon Musk ahas played in downsizing the federal government as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations.
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Organisers are opposing what they call Mr Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.
The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.
US vice president JD Vance has met with Pope Francis.
The “quick and private” meeting took place at the Pope’s residence, Casa Santa Marta, in Vatican City, sources told Sky News.
The meeting came amid tensions between the Vatican and the Trump administration over the US president’s crackdown on migrants and cuts to international aid.
No further details have been released on the meeting between the vice president and the Pope, who has been recovering following weeks in hospital with double pneumonia.
Mr Vance, who is in Rome with his family, also met with the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
The Vatican said there had been “an exchange of opinions” over international conflicts, migrants and prisoners.
According to a statement, the two sides had “cordial talks” and the Vatican expressed satisfaction with the Trump administration’s commitment to protecting freedom of religion and conscience.
“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees and prisoners,” the statement said.
Francis has previously called the Trump administration’s deportation plans a “disgrace”.
Mr Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the immigration crackdown.
The pope rebutted the theological concept Mr Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to the US Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February, and called Mr Trump’s plan a “major crisis” for the US.
“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” the Pope said in the letter.
Mr Vance has acknowledged Francis’s criticism but said he would continue to defend his views. During an appearance in late February at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he did not address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there were “things about the faith that I don’t know”.
While he had criticised Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for the pontiff’s recovery.