MIchelle Obama: Vote Like Our LIves Depend on It

The former First Lady gave an impassioned keynote speech yesterday on the first night of the (virtual() Democratic National Convention, and while it might have sounded a bit less scripted before a live audience, her message was right on target. Excerpt:

So what do we do now? What's our strategy? Over the past four years, a lot of people have asked me, "When others are going so low, does going high still really work?" My answer: going high is the only thing that works, because when we go low, when we use those same tactics of degrading and dehumanizing others, we just become part of the ugly noise that's drowning out everything else. We degrade ourselves. We degrade the very causes for which we fight.

But let's be clear: going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty. Going high means taking the harder path. It means scraping and clawing our way to that mountain top. Going high means standing fierce against hatred while remembering that we are one nation under God, and if we want to survive, we've got to find a way to live together and work together across our differences.

And going high means unlocking the shackles of lies and mistrust with the only thing that can truly set us free: the cold hard truth.

So let me be as honest and clear as I possibly can. Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country. He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is.

Now, I understand that my message won't be heard by some people. We live in a nation that is deeply divided, and I am a Black woman speaking at the Democratic Convention. But enough of you know me by now. You know that I tell you exactly what I'm feeling. You know I hate politics. But you also know that I care about this nation. You know how much I care about all of our children.

So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can; and they will if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.

What I Say:  All my truckbuddies, take heed.  There is no reason to fear that Trump will start a dictatorship if he wins this election.  The dictatorship has already begun.  It's here.  It's real.  This is happening.



Trump says, If I lose, it means the election is rigged.  Or to put that another way:  No election is valid unless I win.  If that is not the declaration of a dictatorship over these United States, what the hell is?  You waiting for a nice, polite little ceremony in the Rose Garden or something?

It's no longer a question of if or when: he has the Constitution in one hand, and a lighted match in the other. What are you going to do about it?

I'll tell you what, boys: your Head Trucker is old and infirm, and can barely make a circuit around the grocery aisles anymore, much less stand all day and night in a voting line, but with God's help, he is going to do all he can to make sure his vote counts on November 3rd.

I hope you will, too. Or else you might never get to vote again. Don't think it can't happen here. It already has.