Did you know that Melania Trump lifted parts of Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National
Convention speech?
So how did Michelle react to the news?
Put it this way: things got weird.
It was the exchange seen around the world.
The day that Donald Trump was sworn in as 45th president of the United States gave us
so many awkward exchanges — but none were as bad as the Tiffany box incident.
As the Obamas welcomed the Trumps into White House, Melania Trump handed Michelle Obama
a gift, and the exchange went viral thanks to the First Lady's "somewhat flummoxed" expression.
Speaking about the awkward encounter after the fact on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Michelle
said that the gift was unexpected, and as such, she didn't know what to do with it.
In recalling the incident to Ellen, Michelle had this to say:
"What am I supposed to do with this gift?
And everyone cleared out and no one would come and take the box.
And I'm thinking, 'Do we take the picture with [it]?'"
Fortunately, Barack Obama saved the day, when he took the box and brought it inside.
But before her husband could swoop in and save the day, the awkward moment was already
captured on camera.
The first lady is a difficult role to fill, and many have relied on their predecessor
for advice.
Melania Trump, though, didn't reach out to Michelle Obama, and the fallout was awkward.
Obama was asked by Robin Roberts about her thoughts on Trump and her work as first lady
during a CNN interview after her time in the White House.
Obama didn't comment, saying that she wouldn't judge the current occupant of the role.
But when pressed a bit further, Obama admitted that Trump hadn't reached out to her for advice,
another first lady tradition Melania Trump refused to do.
Additionally, when Obama became first lady, Laura Bush made herself available to her.
As such, Obama extended the same courtesy to Trump.
"Has she reached out to you?"
"No.
No, she hasn't."
Melania Trump's office then issued a response that read,
"Mrs. Trump is a strong and independent woman who has been navigating her role as first
lady in her own way."
Donald Trump's inauguration gave so many awkward moments, but Michelle Obama's side-eye pretty
much stole the show.
Early on in the day, it was clear that Obama was trying to be gracious, but as things progressed,
so did her apparent disdain for her husband's successor.
She later shared with ABC News that during the day's festivities,
"I stopped even trying to smile."
Obama kept the lid on her thoughts about the awkward exchanges between herself and the
Trumps, but eventually she did share what she was thinking on Instagram in 2020, confessing:
"I've been reflecting a lot on where I was four years ago.
[...] I have to be honest and say that none of this was easy for me.
Donald Trump had spread racist lies about my husband that had put my family in danger.
That wasn't something I was ready to forgive."
Now the expression she made throughout the inauguration day in 2017 makes so much more
sense.
President Barack Obama's inauguration day gave onlookers an awkward Michelle Obama slip-up
that was far more endearing than her Tiffany box incident at Donald Trump's inauguration.
However, Michelle did trip up just a tad when greeting President George Bush and First Lady
Laura Bush.
In a video of the moment, Michelle can be seen reaching for President Bush's hand to
shake, before then quickly realizing that she should have greeted the first lady.
The quick little gaffe was a bit awkward but, if anything, very reflective of the nervous
young couple that was about to occupy the White House.
But for those of you that are political junkies, you know that the 2009 transfer of power was
not the last time the two couples would be seen together.
At public event after public event, the bond between the Bush and Obama families became
more and more apparent, and it basically culminated when Michelle wrapped her arms around George
during the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
One event in New Haven had such a fired-up crowd that it got the best of Michelle Obama's
speech.
As noted by the New Haven Register, Obama was addressing the crowd, expressing her support
for Governor Dannel Malloy.
But things went off the rails when people started yelling at Obama from the audience.
First, a woman shouted at Obama, telling her that she was a "dreamer," and started expressing
her concerns about being deported.
Obama ended up saying,
"OK, I'm going to wait and let you finish.
I hear every word you are saying."
The crowd again threw Obama off just a bit as they kept talking to her, and she ended
up addressing their spirited pleas head-on, saying,
"You guys are lively here.
New Haven, you are all fired up.
You guys want this to be a participatory rally?
Who else should I have come on stage?"
In the end, Obama handled the rowdy crowd like a champ, but it's a little awkward when
you go to speak to an audience that just wants to interrupt.
"This is part of free speech is you being able to speak but also you listening.
And me being able to speak."
Things were awkward when Melania Trump was invited to the White House to sit down with
Michelle Obama in November 2016.
Body language expert Elizabeth Kuhnke broke down the meeting between the two women for
the Telegraph, telling the outlet:
"At the White House, [Melania] seems like a girl who has been called into the headteacher's
office: she looks nervous, her body is contained and she is holding everything in.
Melania's mouth is held tightly together, she is keeping quiet, rather than risk getting
it wrong again."
So what, in contrast, was Obama's stance during the awkward meeting?
Well, Kuhnke revealed:
"Melania is a guest in Michelle Obama's environment and it shows."
Needless to say, the meeting between Melania and Michelle was awkward, tense, and definitely
a power struggle.
The tension between Michelle Obama and Melania Trump has always been pretty palpable.
That said, things got really awkward when Trump used large portions of an address that
Obama gave in 2008 in her own controversial speech during the Republican National Convention
in 2016.
The speeches are eerily similar.
"That the only limit to your achievements."
"That the only limit to the height of your achievement…"
"Is the strength of your dreams…"
"Is the reach of your dreams."
As such, Trump came under a lot of fire for copying such large portions of the former
First Lady's address, and eventually blamed a speech writer for the error.
But the awkward damage was already done.
Obama was even asked about the gaffe during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen
Colbert:
"Melania Trump was criticized for using what turned out to be a portion of your speech.
[...] [Are you] sympathetic for what happened to her?"
"Yeah, that was tough."
Obama responded with a terse smile, and a slightly awkward and impactful pause followed.
Colbert got the hint and followed-up with a "Let's move on," because the tension in
the room was palpable.
Memorial services for world leaders seem like they'd be pretty somber, but when Michelle
and Barack Obama attended the service for renowned leader Nelson Mandela, she looked
less than amused.
This was in part due to her husband's attention towards Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the prime
minister of Denmark.
At the event, the Obamas were sitting next to Helle, and perhaps the first act that President
Obama did that annoyed the first lady was when he took a selfie with Helle and Prime
Minister David Cameron.
Things escalated when the president appeared to say something funny, because as he shared
a laugh with Helle, Michelle looked less than thrilled.
As the memorial progressed, President Obama kept leaning towards Helle to share his thoughts,
all while his wife was sitting next to him.
As reported by The Atlantic, after President Obama left, Michelle Obama saw the opportunity
to pull off the switch, and ended up stealing her husband's seat.
This was perhaps to dull the obvious attention that the two were giving each other.
Talk about awkward.
Any time that Barack and Michelle Obama interact with the Trumps is bound to be icy, but this
exchange between Michelle and Donald Trump was beyond awkward, even for them.
During the state funeral of George H.W.
Bush, the tension was apparent between the 45th president and the former first lady.
At the event, Michelle watched as Donald and Melania Trump took their seats at the Washington
National Cathedral.
Donald greeted Barack, and after what felt like a significant pause, extended his hand
to Michelle.
As Newsweek noted:
"[Michelle Obama] raised her eyebrows and shook the 45th president's hand herself.
But she did not look thrilled."
The tense encounter can be seen on YouTube, and people in the comments clearly picked
up on the nature of the whole interaction.
It also probably didn't help that Donald's former political rival, Hillary Clinton, was
sitting just down the pew.
The awkward tension was just overflowing at that point.
It's pretty uncommon to see Michelle Obama lose her cool, but she was not having it during
this event in 2013.
Obama was speaking during an evening Democratic Party fundraising event in Washington, D.C.
when a heckler began shouting at her — and things went downhill from there.
Obama said to the protestor, who turned out to be Ellen Sturtz from the GetEQUAL campaign,
"One of the things that I don't do well is this.
Do you understand?"
Obama then moved over to Sturtz and said,
"Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I'm leaving.
You all decide.
You have one choice."
The very rare interaction between Obama and the critic ended with Sturtz being escorted
away from the event.
Sturtz later told The Washington Post that she was "taken aback" by the whole ordeal.
Cultural norms are usually observed by the president and first lady while traveling on
behalf of the United States, so things got really tense when Michelle Obama chose not
to wear a head covering while in Saudi Arabia.
For those not aware of how big of a deal the choice was, it's required that all Saudi women
cover their heads in public.
As such, many took to social media to express their disdain for Obama's choice.
As noted by The Washington Post,
"More than 1,500 tweets using the hashtag #Michelle_Obama_unveiled were made in the
aftermath of the interaction."
And if that wasn't awkward enough, the body language between Obama and the male Saudi
delegation was really charged because, according to The Washington Post, the mere act of not
covering your head can be political, whether it was intentional or not.
Politics can often be a rough arena, but things got really awkward when Representative Joe
Wilson interrupted then-President Barack Obama during an address to Congress.
President Obama started to discuss legislation regarding health care and made the point of
saying that it would not be provided to undocumented immigrants.
Cue Joe Wilson, who screamed to the president,
"You lie!"
And if things weren't already tense, Michelle Obama was seen shaking her head from side
to side in response.
The former first lady, who pursed her lips in disappointment, was not alone.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly turned to give Wilson a dirty look, and then-Vice
President Joe Biden later went on Good Morning America to address the situation.
Biden said on the show:
"I was embarrassed for the chamber and a Congress I love.
It demeaned the institution."
Up until that moment in 2009, Michelle Obama wasn't known for expressing her disdain for
political opponents, but this moment really changed that.
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