Former First Lady Michelle Obama attended the 2017 inauguration of former and current MAGA Republican President Donald Trump. But in 2025, after Trump's failed coup attempt and ramping up of White supremacist and Christian nationalist rhetoric, former Democratic President Barack Obama attended the second Trump inauguration solo.
While many speculated on why, Michelle Obama stayed relatively mum.
But on Wednesday's episode of her podcast IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, she tackled the topic head-on while speaking with her cohost/brother and their guest Taraji P. Henson.
The former FLOTUS said:
"My decision to skip the inauguration; you know what people don't realize... my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism."
You can see the beginning of that discussion from YouTube and a clip from X here:
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Obama continued:
"People couldn't believe that I was saying no for any other reason, that they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart."
"While I'm here, really trying to own my life and intentionally practice making the choice that was right for me—and it took everything in my power to not do the thing that was right, or that was... perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me."
"That was a hard thing for me to do."
While trolls are always out in full-force to attack the former FLOTUS—the first Black woman to hold that position—some people understood her reasoning.
@NowThisImpact/Bluesky
And they remembered who skipped Democratic President Joe Biden's inauguration in 2021.
@pdgallo/Bluesky
@periwinklerose/Bluesky
Obama has been learning the "art of saying no" to people and events that are not in her best interests or do not align with her beliefs.
Speaking to the expectations placed on women, especially BIPOC women, she added:
"It’s a muscle that you have to build. And I think we suffered, because it’s almost like we started training late in life to build that muscle, right? I am just now starting to build it."
@thekalenallen/Threads
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