While campaigning in Fletcher, North Carolina, on Friday, Donald Trump justified his attacks on Hillary Clinton's husband's infidelities by claiming first lady Michelle Obama leveled them first. "Wasn't [Obama] the one that originally started the statement, if you can't take care of your home ... you can't take care of the White House or the country?" Trump asked the assembled crowd, referencing a remark Obama first made in 2007.
Trump has recently suggested former President Bill Clinton's infidelities are evidence Hillary Clinton isn't able to handle the obligations of being president, but what he failed to note at his Friday rally is that the full context of Obama's statement indicates she was talking about balancing childcare with presidential obligations. At the 2007 event where she made that comment, Obama followed her remark with an explanation that she and husband President Barack Obama have "adjusted our schedules to make sure that our girls are first, so while he's traveling around, I do day trips." Both the first lady and President Obama have also outright denied suggestions her remark had anything to do with Clinton, who was facing then-Sen. Obama for the Democratic nomination.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of ChristmasCartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
-
Inside the house of AssadThe Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Putin says Russia isn't weakened by Syria setbackSpeed Read Russia had been one of the key backers of Syria's ousted Assad regime
-
Georgia DA Fani Willis removed from Trump caseSpeed Read Willis had been prosecuting the election interference case against the president-elect
-
Democrats blame 'President Musk' for looming shutdownSpeed Read The House of Representatives rejected a spending package that would've funding the government into 2025
-
Trump, Musk sink spending bill, teeing up shutdownSpeed Read House Republicans abandoned the bill at the behest of the two men
-
Congress reaches spending deal to avert shutdownSpeed Read The bill would fund the government through March 14, 2025
-
Luigi Mangione charged with murder, terrorismSpeed Read Magnione is accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
-
Ex-FBI informant pleads guilty to lying about BidensSpeed Read Alexander Smirnov claimed that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in a bribery scheme with Ukrainian energy company Burisma
-
South Korea impeaches president, eyes chargesSpeed Read Yoon Suk Yeol faces investigations on potential insurrection and abuse of power charges
