Trump Closes Out Election Campaign By Threatening Michelle Obama

Donald Trump is closing out his election campaign by bringing up the fact that hed like to hit back at former first lady Michelle Obama .

At a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday, the GOP candidate asked a crowd  of supporters whether he was allowed to hit her now after claiming that the former first lady had hit me an apparent reference to her recent speech calling Trump a criminal  and an abuser. 

Trump had already appeared to threaten  Michelle Obama at a previous rally, noting ominously that shed made a big mistake by criticizing him, but his latest outburst is an escalation in his language and appears to deliberately lean into the ambiguity of the word hit.

Apparently recounting a conversation with his advisers, Trump said, Michelle ... I was so nice to her out of respect. She hit me the other day. I was going to say: Am I allowed to hit her now? They said: Take it easy, sir. My geniuses, they said, Just take it easy. What do you mean? She said that about me, I cant hit back? Sir, youre winning. Just relax.

Is that good or bad advice? he asked the crowd. I think its neutral.

He then asked, What do the ladies of North Carolina think, hit back or just relax? before admitting, Id actually love to hit back, but well hold it a little while.

Trumps comments about the former first lady followed his now-routine attacks on her husband, former President Barack Obama , whom Trump called the great divider. He also referred to him as Barack Hussein Obama, a long-standing racist tactic  Trump uses to cast Obama, Americas first Black president, as nefarious and foreign.

Its unclear precisely which of the former first ladys comments irked Trump. But at a rally in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Michelle Obama made the case for Harris by comparing the two candidates.

Instead of someone whos only in it for themselves, we will have a president whos in it for you, she said. Instead of someone whod accelerate the dismantling of our womens reproductive health system, we will have a president who believes in our freedom to make decisions about our own bodies.

Instead of a criminal and an abuser, we can have a president who has prosecuted lawbreakers and protected victims, she added. Instead of someone who cozies up to dictators and denies elections, we will have a president who will work to strengthen and expand our democracy, and do it all with warmth, joy and grace.