Karl Rove shoots down far-right Michelle Obama conspiracy theory: 'It's pure lunacy'
One of the conspiracy theories that has been popping up in MAGA media outlets is that Democratic operatives are planning to replace President Joe Biden with former First Lady Michelle Obama in the 2024 presidential election. Biden, according to the theory, will withdraw from the race — and Democrats will rally around Obama as their nominee.
But during a Wednesday, November 7 appearance on right-wing Fox News, veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove shot down that theory as nonsense.
Rove told Fox News host Stuart Varney, "Look, she hates politics. Read her autobiography. She didn't want her husband to run for the (Illinois) State Senate. She didn't want him to run for the presidency. She is not a political animal."
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Rove went on to say that if Michelle Obama did change her mind and decide to run for either president or vice president, "people would say, 'You know what, that's Barack (Obama) trying to get a third term as president' — and they wouldn't go for it."
Rove told Varney, "This is a weird obsession of the conspiratorial right, and it's just lunacy — pure lunacy. I had to deal with this in 2020 when this was running through President Trump's reelection campaign, and they thought somehow or another, Biden was going to be pushed aside by Obama — Andrew Cuomo was going to be the Democratic candidate, and his running mate was going to be Michelle Obama. And I told the Trump people, including the president himself, 'This is sheer, utter lunacy, starting with the fact that she hates politics period.' She loves the life she's got."
Media Matters' Eric Kleefeld, in response to the interview, tweeted, "Just on a tangent here, I have long observed that according to the values that conservatives *say* they stand for, Michelle Obama should've been one of their favorite Democratic first ladies. But for some reason, they just always took a serious disliking to her."
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