“I can’t believe that I’m saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.”
Michelle Obama brought the fire in a trailblazing, campaign-defining speech at a Hillary Clinton rally in New Ha
mpshire on Thursday afternoon. In her speech, Obama responded to Trump’s comments in a 2005 leaked tape and his continued misogynistic rhetoric.
Trump was “actually bragging about sexually assaulting women,” Obama said. “I can’t believe that I’m saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women. And I have to tell you that I can’t stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted.”
“This is not something that we can ignore,” she said. “This wasn’t just locker room banter.”
“This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us worry about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV.”
Referencing the series of women who’ve come forward with allegations that Trump touched or kissed them without consent, she continued, “And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally. And I’m sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. It’s frightening. And the truth is, it hurts.”
Delivering a passionate screed, the first lady went on for several minutes about how Trump’s behavior has triggered her and millions of other American women:
“It’s like that sick, sinking feeling you get when walking down the street minding your own business and some guy yells out over words about your body. Or when you see that guy at work that stands just a little too close, stress a little too long, and makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin. It’s that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them, or forced himself on him, and they’ve said no, but he didn’t listen.”
“Too many are treating this as just another day’s headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted. As if this is normal. Just politics as usual,” she said. “But New Hampshire, be clear: This is not normal, this is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable.”
“Enough is enough,” she said. “This has got to stop right now.”
Source: .marieclaire.com
