Obama delivers powerful strike to 'end Trump chaos, injustice'

Former first lady Michelle Obama launched a blistering attack on Donald Trump and urged Americans to elect Joe Biden in November to end the chaos she said had been created during the four years of the current presidency.

In an impassioned speech capping the first night of the Democratic National Convention, Obama said the Republican Trump "has had enough time to prove that he can do the job but had failed to meet the moment in a country reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, economic turmoil and racial injustice."

"Calling him the wrong president for America, Obama added: "Whenever we look to this White House for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy.

"He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is. If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can; and they will if we don't make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it."

Obama, whose husband Barack Obama was in the White House when Biden was vice president from 2009-2017, capped a long parade of speakers, including some of Trump's fellow Republicans, who gathered online to make the case for Biden at the start of the four-day event.

The convention opened amid widespread worries about the safety of voting in November because of the pandemic. Democrats have pushed voting by mail as a safe alternative, but Trump - without evidence - has proclaimed it is prone to fraud and blocked emergency aid for the US Postal Service to limit mail-in voting.

Obama referred to these concerns, saying those who could not win a fair election were trying to stop people from voting by closing polling places in minority neighborhoods, purging voter rolls and lying about the security of mail-in ballots.

"We have to vote for Joe Biden in numbers that cannot be ignored," she said. "We have got to grab our comfortable shoes, put on our masks, pack a brown bag dinner and maybe breakfast too, because we've got to be willing to stand in line all night if we have to."

Showcasing the broad spectrum of supporters united in defeating Trump, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and prominent Republican John Kasich joined in with Obama.

"Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created. He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the racist dog whistling, the religious bigotry and the ugly attacks on women," Sanders said.

Sanders said the country may not even survive four more years of Trump.

"By rejecting science, he has put our lives and health in jeopardy,'' Sanders added of the Trump administration's response to the virus outbreak. "Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Trump golfs.''

Kasich, a former Ohio governor and frequent Trump critic who lost to Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, described his opposition as a patriotic duty.

For today, Democrats will highlight the party's future leaders and turn to a political powerhouse from the past, former president Bill Clinton. Biden's wife, Jill Biden, one of his closest political advisers, will deliver the main speech.

The spotlight will also fall on 17 rising stars, including Stacey Abrams, the one-time Georgia gubernatorial nominee whom Biden considered for a running mate. Other speakers include congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a leading liberal figure; Sally Yates, the former acting US attorney general who clashed with Trump during her brief tenure overseeing the Justice Department; former secretary of state John Kerry; and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.