On Friday’s edition of Fox & Friends, conservative commentators Tucker Carlson, Anna Kooiman and guest Deneen Borelli attacked first lady Michelle Obama for comments aimed at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and about the White House being built by enslaved Black people at last Friday’s City College of New York Commencement.
The conservative commentators and journalists were outraged because of Obama’s speech denouncing exclusionary immigration policies proposed by Trump. They accused the FLOTUS of race-baiting and politicizing her commencement speech instead of praising America’s exceptionalism.
This is the line from Obama’s speech that riled them up:
“It’s the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, Black young women — head off to school, waving goodbye to their father, the president of the United States.”
Borelli, Fox News’ resident Black conservative, states:
“But for her to go back in time to bring up slavery – again, it’s a way to play on people’s emotions. Why not go back to the 50s and 60s when the Democrats were the ones who …wanted to keep Blacks segregated and were involved in the KKK and other issues that they did not want Black Americans to have liberty and freedom in America.”
[…]
“Why not talk about America’s exceptionalism? She went to Princeton. She went to law school. She’s in the White House, the first lady. Why not talk about how exceptional America is and that people – these graduates, this is what they want to hear. A message of hope, a message of inspiration. And that you can achieve anything you set your mind to as long as you work hard and apply yourself. That is what America has to offer.”
