This week, the first excepts from Michelle Obama’s forthcoming book were released to the media. In them, the former first lady is seen bashing Donald Trump for any number of things, but the most pointed commentary came in relation to Trump’s so-called “birtherism” campaign – his attempt to get her husband to prove that he was an American citizen and thus eligible to serve as President of the United States. For that episode, Michelle wrote that she would “never forgive” Trump.
“The whole thing was crazy and mean-spirited, of course, it’s underlying bigotry and xenophobia hardly concealed,” she wrote. “But it was dangerous, deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks. What if someone with an unstable mind loaded a gun and drove to Washington? What if that person went looking for our girls? Donald Trump, with his loud and reckless innuendos, was putting my family’s safety at risk. And for this I’d never forgive him.”
Whether the quest to determine Obama’s birth country was “crazy and mean-spirited” is up for debate, but Trump’s part in developing the quest is not. The “birther” controversy started long before Trump got involved. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that it may have had its origins in the Hillary Clinton 2008 primary campaign. Whether or not anyone in the Clinton camp went public with their concerns, it is undeniable that they sent a journalist to Kenya to see if there was any truth to the rumor that Obama was not, in fact, a viable American citizen. We haven’t read Michelle’s book, but we doubt there are any passages accusing Hillary Clinton of deliberately trying to stir up the “wingnuts.”
In any event, President Trump was asked about the book on Friday, and he had a comeback that only he could deliver.
“She got paid a lot of money to write a book and they always expect a little controversy,” he said. “I’ll give you a little controversy back. I’ll never forgive Obama for what he did to our United States military. By not funding it properly, it was depleted. What he did to our military made this country very unsafe for you and you and you.”
That’s one of the president’s best retorts, and he’s never shy about punching back so that really says something. Obama did far more damage to this country over his eight-year term than Trump could have ever thought of doing with the birth certificate stuff.
Oh, and by the way: Does anyone really care what Michelle Obama has to say about anything?
