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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

Why is the US right so obsessed with the Obamas’ marriage?

Together … Barack and Michelle Obama on stage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
Together … Barack and Michelle Obama on stage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

An estate on Martha’s Vineyard. A nine-bedroom house in DC. A family home in Chicago. Barack and Michelle Obama own about a gazillion dollars’ worth of property. Turns out they don’t need any of their fancy mansions, however, because they live rent-free in rightwing commentators’ heads. While the right has always been fixated on trying to find fault with former president Obama, they have now become unhealthily obsessed with the idea that Barack and Michelle’s marriage is failing. There’s no evidence to support this, mind you. Just vibes.

Picking up on these mysterious vibes is conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, who recently proclaimed on her podcast that she thinks Michelle and Barack “married the wrong people”. Many straws were grasped at to come to this conclusion – including the fact that Michelle once said that she likes going to bed early (wise woman) and her husband doesn’t.

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