Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not be a part of President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent inauguration, breaking with a 150-year-old custom in which former presidents and their spouses generally take part. Her office provided no clear reason for the snub.
Although Michelle Obama won’t be there, her spouse, former President Barack Obama, is anticipated to be present at the official swearing-in ceremony next week.
The announcement follows Michelle Obama’s absence at last week’s state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, where Barack Obama was spotted laughing and conversing with Trump and this moment went viral. CNN stated that Michelle Obama faced a scheduling conflict and stayed in Hawaii, where she was on an “extended vacation.”
This, combined with her decision not to accompany her husband at Trump’s inauguration, has triggered a wave of responses online – ranging from indignant complaints by conservatives about violating tradition to outrageous speculation that the Obamas are on the verge of divorce.
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However, rumors of marital strife are baseless; insiders reveal that she has chosen to skip Trump’s inauguration because she “doesn’t want to pretend to be happy” at the occasion.
Michelle Obama’s contempt for Trump is widely recorded. At Trump’s 2017 inauguration, photographers framed her clearly upset demeanor while she and Barack Obama departed the White House.
In her 2018 memoir ‘Becoming’, she stated that Trump’s promotion of the false birther accusations regarding Barack Obama — claiming he wasn’t born in the U.S. — endangered her family’s safety. “I would never forgive him for this,” she stated.
In a 2023 podcast appearance, she conveyed her disappointment regarding the absence of diversity among the attendees at Trump’s first inauguration, pointing out that the event failed to represent “the broader sense of America.”
The source added, “For eight years as first lady, she operated in the public spotlight and contributed to the public good as much as she could. You’ll encounter her when she has a project or cause to advocate, but she no longer feels the necessity to be in the public eye.”
