Democrats Are Finally ‘Going Low’ — And It Might Actually Work

Michelle Obama has had enough.

“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” the former first lady said Tuesday during her rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention , referring to Trump’s litany of racist attacks against her and her husband, including Trump’s infamous conspiracy theory questioning her husband’s place of birth. “See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happened to be Black.”

The crowd at Chicago’s United Center roared with applause. But then, there was the kicker .

“Wait, I wanna know,” she continued, waving her finger. “Who’s gonna tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?!”

The crowd went electric. It was such a contrast from the Michelle Obama of eight years ago, who famously advised Democrats in her convention speech that year: “When they go low, we go high.”

The Michelle Obama of 2024 was saucier, looser and more direct. At times, she punctuated her lines by shaking her head in exasperation, as if she was asking the crowd: “Can you believe this shit?!”

She seamlessly toggled between modes, sometimes even within a single sentence, to get more to the point, like when she launched into the call-to-action portion of her speech. “Michelle Obama is asking you — no, I’m telling y’all — to do something!” she said.

When her husband took the stage, he gave mostly his standard fare (Michelle Obama is a tough act to follow, as he himself even acknowledged). But the former president also showed signs of a different approach toward his successor. When mentioning Trump’s strange obsession with the size of his