Shortly after Michelle Obama announced her plan to skip Donald Trump’s inauguration, a source familiar with her thoughts said that the former First Lady would not want to fake a smile for someone she still views as a threat to American democracy.
“There’s no overstating her feelings about [Trump]. She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” a source told PEOPLE magazine. “Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or it’s tradition.”
According to the source, Trump’s history of attacking the Obama family and making disparaging remarks about people of color have shaped Michelle Obama’s view of him. The source added that if she were to attend his second inauguration, she would likely be expected to conceal her true feelings in the public eye.
“She served in the public eye and did all the public good that she could for eight years as first lady,” the source says of her fulfilling her official responsibilities in 2017. “You’ll see her when she has a project or cause to promote, but she doesn’t feel the need to be a public figure anymore.”
Her husband, former President Barack Obama, will be attending Trump’s inauguration but will not attend post-inaugural functions.
Michelle Obama, who grew up in an upper-middle-class family and neighborhood before being accepted to and attending Harvard Law School, first caused a stir as Barack campaigned for the White House in 2008. In February of that year, this woman of privilege said, “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country because it feels like hope is making a comeback.”
She has also said, “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is ‘When they go low, we go high’” — at the same time she has claimed that Trump is a ‘threat to democracy’ when he’s made no such moves to disrupt America’s constitutional order. Interestingly, Michelle has not condemned President Joe Biden for using the power of the federal government to prosecute his political enemies — in this case, Trump.
If anything, Trump has vowed to faithfully execute the laws of the land, including those pertaining to immigration and border security. To that end, Tom Homan, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming border czar, pledged to begin mass deportations immediately following the inauguration on Monday.
During an interview with Fox News anchor Jesse Watters on Friday night, Homan declared that ICE would “finally” be allowed to carry out its responsibilities by deporting millions of undocumented migrants.
Earlier this week, a Wall Street Journal report indicated that roughly 200 officers are set to arrive in Chicago on Tuesday for a large-scale deportation operation—taking place just a day after the inauguration. But he also said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would be operating across the country.
Watters asked Homan about reports claiming “there’s going to be a big raid all across the country.”
Homan not only vowed deportations on day one but that ICE is being told to enforce immigration law “without apology.”
“ICE is finally going to go out and do their job,’ he said. “We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens.”
Watters asked, “Am I blowing your cover when I announce that there’s going to be a big raid in Chicago on Tuesday? Or do you want people to know maybe they can self-deport?”
“There’s going to be a big raid all across the country. Chicago is just one of many places. We got 24 field offices across the country. On Tuesday, you’re going expect ICE — ICE is finally going to go out and do their job. We’re going to take the handcuffs off ICE and let them go arrest criminal aliens. That’s what’s going to happen,” Homan pledged.
