New York - Michelle Obama has said Donald Trump’s bragging about sexual assault is “intolerable”, “disgraceful” and “has to stop”.
Speaking at a rally in Manchester, she spoke passionately against the Republican’s “routine degradation” of women.
The First Lady focused on Trump’s dubious history with women, including walking in on models’ dressing rooms to meet them while they were semi-clothed, accusations of sexual assault and the leaked 2005 video which showed him to be bragging about making aggressive advances upon a married woman.
“I can’t stop thinking about this, it has shaken me to my core,” she said. “Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough and enough,” she added. “It has to stop right now.”
The leaked 2005 video shows Trump showing off to former Access Hollywood anchor, Billy Bush, about not even waiting for consent before kissing women, and saying he can do “whatever he wants” as a “star”. Bush was suspended soon after the video came out, and a slew of Republicans condoned Trump, including house speaker Paul Ryan.
“How is this affecting men and boys in this country? The men in my life do not talk about women like this and I know my family is not unusual,” she said. “To dismiss this as ‘every day locker room talk’ is an insult to decent men everywhere. The men you and I know don’t treat women this way.”
Ms Obama joined the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton in September. She urged Americans to cast their vote, as abstaining or voting for a third party candidate would “help to elect her opponent”.
Trump insisted at the second presidential debate that his comments about women are echoed by many men and that it was “locker room talk”. He argued that Clinton should be in jail for the misuse of her private email server and that Bernie Sanders had done a deal with “the devil”.
“Let’s be very clear,” said Ms Obama in Manchester. “Strong men, men who are truly role models, don’t need to put women down to feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. Those that are truly powerful bring us together.”
* In Columbus, Ohio President Barack Obama insisted on Thursday that Republicans who are disavowing Trump deserve no credit for their sudden change of heart after having "stood by silently" for so long.
He accused Republicans of filling a "swamp of crazy" by allowing unfounded and hate-filled rhetoric to go unchallenged within the party for years.
Campaigning for Democrats in Ohio, Obama said most Republicans aren't like Trump and "know better," but hadn't renounced the kind of rhetoric Trump embraces out of deference to the Republican base. The president said that it was GOP complacency that led the party to nominate a candidate who he said brags and jokes about sexually assaulting women.
"You can't wait until that finally happens and then say, 'That's too much, that's enough,' and then say somehow you are showing some type of leadership and deserve to be elected to the United States Senate," Obama said. "In fact, I'm more forgiving of the people who actually believe it than the people who know better and stood silently by out of political expediency."
The Independent, AP