--- title: Michelle Obama Slams Donald Trump During Speech in Arizona description: Michelle Obama ripped into Donald Trump while delivering a speech in Arizona, a red state where she is campaigning for Hillary Clinton. canonical: https://time.com/4539875/michelle-obama-donald-trump-arizona-speech/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T23:53:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:18:36.565Z article:section: Politics og:title: Michelle Obama: Donald Trump Is 'Threatening the Very Idea of America Itself' og:description: “We cannot stand for that" og:url: https://time.com/4539875/michelle-obama-donald-trump-arizona-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfaf80608a36dfcf/6988aafd97cdff01806ae43d/michelle-obama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; on October 20, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michelle Obama: Donald Trump Is 'Threatening the Very Idea of America Itself' twitter:description: “We cannot stand for that" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfaf80608a36dfcf/6988aafd97cdff01806ae43d/michelle-obama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michelle Obama: Donald Trump Is 'Threatening the Very Idea of America Itself'  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 20, 2016 11:53 PM UTC  Michelle Obama on Oct. 20, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. Michelle Obama on Oct. 20, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona.Ralph Freso—2016 Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 20, 2016 11:53 PM UTC Michelle Obama said Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy while delivering an impassioned speech Thursday in Arizona, [a red state where she is campaigning for Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4534693/why-hillary-clinton-is-playing-in-arizona/). The First Lady [told a crowd](http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/19/politics/democrats-arizona-2016-election/index.html) of Clinton supporters in Phoenix that Trump “just doesn’t understand us” and that the Republican nominee has a vision for America that is “completely and utterly lacking in hope.” She also said Trump is “threatening the very idea of America itself,” criticizing him for saying that he’d keep the country in “suspense” over whether he’d concede if he lost the election in November. “We cannot stand for that,” Obama said. Obama also took digs at Trump’s comments about women and immigrants, saying Trump doesn’t understand them. “Maybe that’s why he demeans and humiliates women as if we’re objects meant solely for pleasure and entertainment rather than human beings worthy of love and respect,” [she said](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lady-michelle-obama-stumps-hillary-clinton-arizona/story?id=42938063). “He just doesn’t understand us.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4539875/michelle-obama-donald-trump-arizona-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4539875/michelle-obama-donald-trump-arizona-speech/"},"headline":"Michelle Obama: Donald Trump Is 'Threatening the Very Idea of America Itself'","datePublished":"2016-10-20T23:53:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:18:36.565Z","description":"“We cannot stand for that\"","url":"https://time.com/4539875/michelle-obama-donald-trump-arizona-speech/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfaf80608a36dfcf/6988aafd97cdff01806ae43d/michelle-obama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcfaf80608a36dfcf/6988aafd97cdff01806ae43d/michelle-obama-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"<> on October 20, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona.","caption":"Michelle Obama on Oct. 20, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona.","creditText":"Ralph Freso—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4539875/michelle-obama-donald-trump-arizona-speech/","name":"Michelle Obama: Donald Trump Is 'Threatening the Very Idea of America Itself'"}}]}] ```