Michelle Obama doesn’t want you to think that she has an agenda, in any way, shape, or form.
But for all her talk about unity and being “an open-hearted nation,” she can’t resist the typical liberal complaints about the Trump administration. In the same vein, Ellen Degeneres, who denies being political, also cannot avoid slamming conservative politics on her show. When Ellen told Michelle Obama that “I feel like the world is a very scary place right now,” the former First Lady responded, “People are afraid … about the direction of the country.”
Her solution to addressing Degeneres’ fear? “Forget what they’re saying in Washington. That’s not necessarily who we are.” This is the same political figure who told a conference in Boston that, “Quite frankly, we saw this in this election, as far as I’m concerned, any women who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.”
Degeneres voiced her own fears to Michelle Obama in the interview, saying: “We were talking to your husband about this, when we spent some time with him, and I personally feel frightened. I feel like the world is a very scary place right now. And I do a show every single day where I’m supposed to make people happy and forget about what’s going on in the world. What is your take on what’s happening?”
In her response, Obama painted a picture of doom and despair, telling the audience to cling to hope. She said, “We show empathy, we care for each other. You know, we do have a lot in common. That’s what it means to lead with hope and not fear. And that’s all we have, is hope. So I would just encourage your viewers, the country, to do the things we do everyday, to love each other, to take care of each other, to show empathy. And you can’t do that only when people make you feel good or safe.”
Obama chose The Ellen Degeneres Show as the place to have her first televised interview since she left the White House. Degeneres told Megyn Kelly in September that she would never have Donald Trump on her show because “I don’t want to give him a platform because it just validates him. And I can’t have someone that I feel is not only dangerous for the country and for me personally as a gay woman, but to the world.”
However, while Degeneres won’t give voice to Trump, her talk show has been a platform for the former president and his wife during the 8 years of the Obama administration. In 2016, Barack Obama gave Degeneres the Presidential Medal for Freedom for her advocacy of LGBT issues.
When Ellen began her interview with Michelle Obama, she turned to the screaming audience and asked, “Don’t you miss her?”
At the end of the segment, Michelle Obama presented the talk show host with birthday gifts, including a Barack Obama chia pet, “To remember the good times.”
