Michelle Obama Returns to Ask: Why Is Kamala Harris Being Held to a Different Standard?

The former first lady shared her fears in Michigan that Americans were looking past former President Donald Trump’s faults. “I gotta ask myself, why on earth is this race even close?”

Michelle Obama
Her appearance Saturday was her first since she spoke at the party’s convention in August. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

KALAMAZOO, MI — Former first lady Michelle Obama made her debut on the campaign trail on Saturday in fiery remarks that asked voters not just in Michigan but across the country: Why is Kamala Harris being held to a double standard?

It’s a conversation that’s crept up across cable networks and pundit panels as the race between Harris and former President Donald Trump has remained in a deadlock. Obama, who is upfront about her hate for the political process as the first Black first lady in U.S. history, said she was beckoned back on the trail because of her frustration and fear.

“This race is close. It’s too close for my liking,” she said, at one point in her remarks, saying Trump was in “obvious mental decline.”