Donald Trump used one of his last campaign rallies before Election Day to go after former First Lady Michelle Obama.
“Michelle hit me,” he told supporters at a rally Monday in Raleigh, North Carolina. “I was so nice to her, out of respect, I was so nice. She hit me the other day.”
After mostly staying off the campaign trail this year, Obama has made multiple public appearances over the last few weeks. During a Michigan event, she slammed the former president’s “gross incompetence,” criminal history, and “obvious mental decline.”
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The comment clearly got under Trump’s skin. At an Atlanta rally last week, he called her “nasty” and a “hater,” but when audience members demanded to “lock her up,” he told them to “be nice.”
Obama happens to be one of the most popular political figures in the country, especially among the Black voters and suburban women who Trump cannot afford to alienate any further. Before Kamala Harris entered the race over the summer, one poll found Obama was the only Democrat who would beat Trump in a hypothetical match-up.
On Monday, however, Trump seemed ready to act on his baser instincts. He reenacted his conversations with his advisers, cracking up his fans.
“I was going to say to my pe—‘Am I allowed to hit her now?’’ he recounted. ‘They said, ‘Take it easy, sir. Sir, take it easy.’ My geniuses, they said, ‘Just take it easy.’ ‘What do you mean, she said bad about me, I can’t hit back?’ ‘Sir, you’re winning, just relax.’”
The former president said he deemed that advice neither good nor bad, but neutral. But when he surveyed the audience about what he should do, he welcomed their input.
“Oh, you say hit back,” Trump said. “I’d actually love to hit back. But we’ll hold it a little while.”
