Michelle Obama closed out the first night of the virtual Democratic National Convention with some strong words.
In a 19-minute address, she urged people to vote, called out Donald Trump for his failures, and even threw some subtle shade at Kanye West.
“He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is,” Michelle said of Trump. If you recall, that last line is what Trump said about the coronavirus’s death toll.
“We’ve got to vote early, in person if we can. We’ve got to request our mail-in ballots right now, tonight, and send them back immediately and follow up to make sure they’re received,” she said. “And then, make sure our friends and families do the same. We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we’ve got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to.”
Closing out her speech, she invoked the late Rep. John Lewis.
“So, it is up to us to add our voices and our votes to the course of history,” she said, “echoing heroes like John Lewis, who said, ‘When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something.’ That is the truest form of empathy: not just feeling, but doing; not just for ourselves or our kids, but for everyone, for all our kids.”
Watch her full address below.
