“There’s no overstating her feelings about [Trump]. She’s not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol’s sake,” a source close to the former first lady told People Magazine. “Michelle doesn’t do anything because it’s expected or it’s protocol or it’s tradition.”

“She served in the public eye and did all the public good that she could for eight years as first lady,” the source said of Obama fulfilling her duties at Trump’s 2017 inauguration. “You’ll see her when she has a project or cause to promote but she doesn’t feel the need to be a public figure anymore,” they continued.

Longtime allies of Michelle Obama also told The Hill they believed her decision to skip the inauguration was an act of resistance.

I’ve never been one to write much about Michelle Obama, either pro or con. Any interest I retain in her is simply because I realize that a lot of people – a lot, perhaps even a majority – would vote for her were she to run for president. Fortunately, she’s never given any indication of wanting to do that, despite almost constant rumors to that effect.

The explanation for the news about Michelle not attending the inauguration is a good example, however, of her inflated sense of self-righteousness for an act of rudeness. “Resistance”? I guess she’s once again not proud of the US, her default position.

However, I also find the announcement interesting coming on the heels of Michelle’s no-show at the Jimmy Carter funeral. I would have thought that would be an event she might have attended. Was her problem that Trump would be there, too? Her husband didn’t seem to mind. Or is it actually that she is through with public life except when it’s completely on her terms and she’s the star of the occasion? That’s my guess.

Then of course there are divorce rumors. That’s always a possibility, but it wouldn’t be my first bet.

ADDENDUM: In only tangentially related news, Ivanka Trump says she’s “through with politics” and won’t be involved in her father’s new term.

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“As former First Lady Michelle Obama has expressed several times over the years, she will not be running for president,” Crystal Carson, the director of communications for Obama’s office, said in a statement provided to ITK on Tuesday.

Obama supports President Biden and Vice President Harris, her office said.

Note the “several times” bit. Michelle has been consistent in that regard; see this, for example, from a year ago:

“I’ve never expressed any interest in politics. Ever,” admits Michelle. “I mean, I agreed to support my husband. He wanted to do it, and he was great at it. But at no point have I ever said, ‘I think I want to run.’ Ever. So, I’m just wondering: Does what I want have anything to do with anything? Does who I choose to be have anything to do with it?”

She continues: “Politics is hard. And the people who get into it — it’s just like marriage, it’s just like kids — you’ve got to want it. It’s got to be in your soul, because it is so important. It is not in my soul. Service is in my soul. Helping people is in my soul. Working with kids? I will spend my lifetime trying to make kids feel seen and find their light. That I will do. I don’t have to hold office to do that. In fact, I think I’m actually more effective outside of politics, because sadly, politics has become so divided.”

However, statements like that over the years have never stopped the speculation – and the hope among Democrats, and the anxiety among Republicans. Those feelings of hope and fear come from a perception that Michelle Obama would win in 2024. I have no idea whether that perception is correct, but I realize that it may be. However, I’ve been consistent in saying I believe her when she says she will not run.

Ah, but she might be drafted, say a lot of people. I just don’t see it. I don’t for a moment believe that she’s not interested in politics itself in the sense of her being very much in favor of leftist outcomes and willing to help leftist campaigners. But for whatever motives, she doesn’t want to be the one in charge. What’s more, the Obamas have reason to support Biden: they have a lot of influence in his administration, and a 2024 win will only increase that influence as his cognitive abilities sink further.

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The 59-year-old former lawyer spoke to an estimated 5,000 attendees on how to “push past self-doubt while discussing the importance of inclusivity and diversity” at the annual Bits and Pretzels forum in Munich — a start-up event held on the sidelines of the annual Oktoberfest beer festival, according to the event website.

For her speech, Obama was paid 700,000 euros, which is roughly equivalent to $741,000, two unidentified sources close to the conference organizers told the Daily Mail.

Organizers told the outlet that the former first lady “topped the list” of people whom participants wanted to hear from “year after year.”

That comes out to be $12,350 per minute, and about $206 per second.

No doubt the speech was Churchillian.

These sorts of fees are one of the reasons politics is so corrupt these days – or one of the ways in which it’s so corrupt. And Michelle Obama isn’t even a politician – yet. Some say she will end up as the Democrats’ nominee in 2024. I have my doubts.

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And by “Joe Biden’s pick” I mean Biden or whoever is handling him, which in part may be Barack Obama.

I have long completely resisted the idea that Michelle Obama will be the 2020 Democratic nominee, although others have insisted it’s a good possibility. I have never seen her as wanting the job. And I initially thought the Democratic base would be too angry to accept any substitutions. But the VP position under Biden is different. I’m starting to think that she could be talked into it, in order to save the party and her husband’s legacy, and with a promise that she’d be somewhat of a figurehead for her more experienced husband, who would be the one really steering the ship.

I usually reject such convoluted ideas unless they are extremely plausible. But once it became clear that Biden was the candidate the DNC wanted, as the most “electable” without being an outright and declared socialist, and as Biden’s cognitive limitations would become more and more obvious, I started to consider that Michelle might actually decide to save America from both Trump and Biden by becoming Biden’s running mate.

Everyone would know she was the “real” candidate, and Biden a place-holder. She wouldn’t have to compete with any other person except Pence. She has tremendous popularity. She’s a woman (Biden has said it must be a woman) – in fact, she’s a black woman, which is even better. She would double, triple, or quadruple whatever positives Biden gets from his long partnership with Obama. And it doesn’t involve any controversial shenanigans at the convention. Biden, who has the most votes, would be the candidate, and the candidate ordinarily gets to pick his running mate, who is not limited to those who dropped out of the original race.

Obama himself is still popular, and although he’s not able to run for president himself, I don’t think he’s been happy at relinquishing the reins of power. He still has some power with his party, but I will assume it’s a given that he wants more, and with his wife as president (or shadow president) he would have it. His much-touted legacy would be intact. His old advisors could come back and they could reverse whatever Trump has done, and build on it.

It could be a very seductive prospect indeed for Michelle and Barack Obama, and that would go a long way towards explaining why the DNC has been so eager to have Biden as candidate, and why the Democrats and most of the left are still protecting him. I don’t know whether it will happen. But the only wild cards in the mix would be whether Michelle Obama would accept the Biden offer, and whether enough Americans are nostalgic for another Obama go-round that they would vote for the ticket.

Hillary Clinton was going to continue along Obama’s path in 2016, till that plan was cruelly thwarted. But perhaps it was only delayed for four years, and the Democrats have come up with a plan to reinstate an even better version of it.

Sorry to be a downer. But it’s become something I feel is plausible enough that I need to talk about it.

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