President Donald Trump has spent a lot of his time lately raging against political opponents — and former First Lady Michelle Obama is among those stepping in to pick up the leadership slack left behind by the president’s failures. This week on Twitter, she touted a plan for her voting advocacy organization When We All Vote to partner with 31 mayors from around the country to share information with voters about safe voting and take other steps to help protect the voting process. Just this very week, the actual current president has been doing the exact opposite — he threatened to withhold federal funding from states including Michigan and Nevada after they expanded vote-by-mail options for coming elections.
WOW: New research from Columbia University finds if social distancing in U.S. "had been in place seven days earlier…the U.S. could have prevented 36,000 deaths through early May — about 40 percent of fatalities reported to date." Now If only Trump didn't think it was a "Hoax" https://t.co/SvxL5Vrcoy
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) May 21, 2020
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama tweeted:
‘The ability to vote freely, fairly—and safely—is bigger than any single issue, party, or candidate. I’m so grateful that this bipartisan group of #CivicCities mayors are joining up with @WhenWeAllVote to make voting more accessible. This work couldn’t be more important.’
The ability to vote freely, fairly—and safely—is bigger than any single issue, party, or candidate. I’m so grateful that this bipartisan group of #CivicCities mayors are joining up with @WhenWeAllVote to make voting more accessible. This work couldn’t be more important. https://t.co/w214njQecd
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 21, 2020
The Obamas are continuing to occupy the leadership gap left by the actual current president. Trump tried to base his threats against states over their mail voting plans on completely unfounded claims that voting by mail opens the door for widespread voting fraud. There is no evidence for this claim, just like there’s no evidence for many of the president’s other ridiculous voting-related claims, like that millions of illegal votes were cast in 2016.
This Thursday on Twitter, the former First Lady also promoted an online event that her When We All Vote organization is helping lead to promote voting by mail in Pennsylvania in particular, and she also offered well wishes to actress Marlo Thomas and talk show host Phil Donahue on the occasion of their 40th anniversary. In stark contrast, the president recently attracted questioning when he awkwardly took to Twitter to wish his daughter Tiffany well on the occasion of her graduation from law school, as if he couldn’t call her up and say congratulations directly.
Marriage is a choice you make every day. It can be hard work, but when two people commit to seeing that work through, the rewards are as sweet as they come. Congratulations Marlo and Phil! You two show us how it’s done. 💘 https://t.co/9UQ1S0iUcj
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 21, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response to the former First Lady below.
