Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Michelle Obama Just Responded to Laura Bush's Comments About Trump's Child Separation Policy, and the Internet Is Cheering

Michelle Obama Just Responded to Laura Bush's Comments About Trump's Child Separation Policy, and the Internet Is Cheering
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 14: Former First Lady Michelle Obama talks to the audience at the Reach Higher Initiative Beating the Odds Summit to support first-generation college-bound students on June 14, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shannon Finney/Getty Images)

Preach.

Earlier today, former First Lady Laura Bush excoriated the Trump administration for its child separation policy, calling it “cruel” and “immoral" in a widely circulated op-ed for The Washington Post.

“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” Bush wrote.


The op-ed, one of the Post's top trending pieces today, attracted the attention of Bush's successor, former First Lady Michelle Obama, who captured the internet's attention with a single tweet.

Many praised Obama's response while slamming the inaction from Congress.

Obama's tweet offers a rather striking footnote to Bush's op-ed, which is the most impassioned call to action from a former First Lady yet.

Bush compared the separations to the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, which resulted in the detainment of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry:

Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history. We also know that this treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.

She also observed that the moral character of the United States is at stake, saying “the injustice of zero tolerance is not the answer”:

Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war. We pride ourselves on believing that people should be seen for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We pride ourselves on acceptance. If we are truly that country, then it is our obligation to reunite these detained children with their parents — and to stop separating parents and children in the first place.

People on all sides agree that our immigration system isn’t working, but the injustice of zero tolerance is not the answer. I moved away from Washington almost a decade ago, but I know there are good people at all levels of government who can do better to fix this.

Bush and Obama aren't the only former First Ladies to criticize the Trump administration's policies, particularly as President Donald Trump continues to falsely blame Democrats for the separations.

Hillary Clinton, Trump's Democratic opponent during the 2016 presidential election, retweeted a message from her husband, former President Bill Clinton, which condemned the family separation policy in a commemorative Father's Day message.

And, perhaps most strikingly, the president's own wife, First Lady Melania Trump, has issued a statement of her own, a rarity from a First Lady who has not often weighed in on her husband's policy proposals.

In a statement Sunday, the first lady's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said that "Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform."

The statement added, "She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart."

President Trump, meanwhile, has shown no signs of letting up his campaign blaming Democrats for the policy.

In a tweet earlier today, he implored Democrats to "start thinking about the people devastated by Crime coming from illegal immigration."

But the president's tweets are misleading and are indicative of a much larger trend of obfuscation from his administration.

The "zero tolerance" policy, which the president has admitted is a negotiating tool to get Democrats to cave to his demands (which include tougher border security as well as a wall erected along the nation's southern border), was, in fact, announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month, and the Department of Homeland Security announced last week that around 2,000 children have been separated from their families during the six weeks since the policy went into effect.

In a tweet last night, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claimed that the administration “does not have a policy of separating families at the border.”

But President Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, says the opposite.

“It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry,” he told The New York Times. “Period.”

More from People/donald-trump

Stephen Falco
WISH-TV/YouTube

Indiana Church Doubles Down After Telling LGBTQ+ People To Kill Themselves Or Face Death Penalty

An Indiana Baptist church is under fire for telling LGBTQ+ people to kill themselves, just as Christ would have done.

Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Indianapolis caused an uproar after a sermon in which church member Stephen Falco recommended LGBTQ+ commit suicide—and if they don't, the Trump Administration should execute them.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot of KSAT ABC 12 news anchors  and Stephania Jimenez

Texas News Anchor Slams Noem And Abbott For Using Flood Press Conference To Praise Each Other

KSAT ABC 12 News anchor Stephania Jimenez called out the priorities of federal and state officials during disasters live on air on Saturday.

Jiminez spoke out after a fifth news conference that was supposed to be about the deadly flash flooding west of San Antonio began with yet another mutual admiration society performance by Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, and nearly everyone else behind the microphones.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Mike Johnson
Fox News Sunday

Mike Johnson Blasted After Claiming All Congress Can Do After Texas Floods Is 'Pray'

House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing angry criticism after he appeared on Fox News to remark on the deadly flooding in Texas that has killed hundreds, claiming that all Congress "knows to do at this moment is pray" in response to the disaster.

Speaking during the ongoing search and rescue operations, Johnson spoke as the people of Texas continue to raise mounting questions about the effectiveness of current warning systems and whether more could have been done in advance to prevent the loss of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Elon Musk
Omar Havana/Getty Images; Allison Robbert/AFP via Getty Image

Trump Lashes Out After 'Train Wreck' Elon Musk Announces He's Creating New Political Party

President Donald Trump attacked his former ally Elon Musk in a post on Truth Social after the tech billionaire announced over the weekend that he's creating a new political party called the "America Party" amid their ongoing feud.

Musk has made clear that he vehemently opposes the president's One Big Beautiful Bill—and will work to unseat any Republicans who've supported it, saying they've "voted for the biggest debt increase in history." He founded the new political party on July 5, the day after Trump signed the legislation, which adds roughly $3.3 trillion to the national debt.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a server dressed in all black peering through a window.
Photo by Ian Taylor on Unsplash

Restaurant Servers Describe The Worst Dates They've Ever Witnessed

I have been a waiter on and off for many years.

The things I've seen!

Keep ReadingShow less