Michelle Obama says Trump-voting women 'voted against their own voice

Former first lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday that women who voted against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election did so at the cost of "their own voice."

What did she say?

Obama, conferring on a stage with author Roxane Gay at the Inbound 2017 conference in Boston, discussed female voters as well as President Donald Trump.

"Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice," Obama said about Clinton's presidential bid. Her comments garnered a round of applause from those gathered at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

"It doesn’t say as much about Hillary — and everybody’s trying to worry about what it means for Hillary," she said. "What does this mean for us, as women that we look at those two candidates, as women, and many of us said, 'He [Trump] is better for me. His voice is more true to me.' To me that just says, you don’t like your voice. You like the thing you’re told to like."

Despite reservations she may have about Trump and thoughts about those who voted for him, Obama said that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, want him to be a successful and viable president.

"We want him to be successful," Obama said. "He was elected."

This writer's perspective

Obama has made myriad comments in the past supporting women, so it seems odd that she would strike out at female Trump voters in what appears to be such a passive-aggressive way.

Here are a few things that Obama has said about women and female empowerment over the years.

• 2017: "Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter or like you don’t have a place in our American story, because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are."
• 2016: "You see, while our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today, we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election. We have knowledge. We have a voice."
• 2014: "No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens."
• 2012: "There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish."
• 2009: "The women we honor today teach us three very important lessons. One, that as women, we must stand up for ourselves. The second, as women, we must stand up for each other. And finally, as women, we must stand up for justice for all."