Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not be attending Donald Trump’s second inauguration — but those close to the president-elect don’t seem to mind, according to a report.
“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former first lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration,” said a statement from the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama earlier this week.
The Obamas’ office gave no explanation for her absence, but MAGA world doesn’t seem bothered by the snub.
“They are having a good laugh,” a source involved in planning the inauguration told Page Six. “They didn’t expect her to come anyway.”
One Republican source believed her decision to miss Trump’s second inauguration was a snub: “It’s obvious that this was her way of protesting Trump. She hates him.”
A Democratic source told the outlet there’s no reason to read into her absence: “Donald Trump and Melania didn’t go to Joe Biden’s inauguration and nobody cared. No one said anything.”
Another source told the outlet that she decided to sit the ceremony out because she doesn’t want to be “phony” while watching the man she once described as “felon, slumlord” and a “predator” be sworn in.
“She’s never been fake and she’s never been phony. She’s always been very deliberate about where and how she shows up,” the source said. “She showed up reluctantly for the election. They were united, but she doesn’t have to unify around [Trump]. She doesn’t have to say anything. Her absence speaks volumes.”
A source related a similar sentiment to People. “There’s no overstating her feelings about [Trump]. She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” the source told the outlet. “Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or it’s tradition.
The source added: “She would be expected to swallow her feelings in the spotlight if she attended his second inauguration.”
Reflecting on going to Trump’s first inauguration after being in the White House for eight years, she said on her show The Light Podcast in 2023: “To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display, there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage.
“There was no reflection of the broader sense of America. Many people took pictures of me and they’re like, ‘You weren’t in a good mood.’ No, I was not,” she said.
This is the second major event that the former first lady plans to skip this month. She didn’t attend Jimmy Carter’s funeral at the Washington National Cathedral with Barack Obama, with the Obamas’ office saying that she had “scheduling conflicts” and was still in Hawaii.
The former first lady won’t be the only Democratic heavyweight not in attendance. Nancy Pelosi will reportedly also sit out Trump’s second inauguration.
