Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez in a Historic Instagram Live: How 5 Votes Helped Trump Win, RBG’s Legacy & More
Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lopez want to make one thing clear: There is a whole lot at stake this November.
“This last election, when this president [Donald Trump] was elected, the margin of difference in the vote per precinct in several key swing states was five votes per precinct,” the former first lady said during an Instagram Live conversation today, part of the Registered and Ready Instagram Takeover, a day-long event being put on by National Voter Registration Day and When We All Vote.
She added, “So anybody out there who thinks their vote doesn’t matter, that was the difference in who this president is.”
In a historical election year, Obama — who serves as co-chair of When We All Vote — has been keeping in theme by making her own unprecedented move to host her first-ever IG Live/takeover, consisting of a series of high-profile celebrity interviews in hopes of galvanizing Americans on National Voter Registration Day.
The first conversation of the day saw Obama pow-wow with Jennifer Lopez, who was clad in a sweater bearing the statement “She Who Dares Wins.”
“For the Latina community, we’re like 32 million strong — I could have those numbers wrong — but I know we’re a lot,” said Lopez during her 15-minute conversation with Obama that kicked off the day’s program at 11 a.m. ET. “I know if every single one of us went out and voted, we could decide who the next president is.” (As of 2018, the United States Census Bureau estimated that there were almost 60 million Hispanics living in the United States.)
The two women also took the opportunity to pay homage to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice and tireless women’s advocate, who died on Friday at 87 years old.
“Barack and I were privileged to call her a friend,” said Obama. “We had dinner with her and her husband — would see her almost every holiday — just and amazing force of a women. I have always been moved by her story of how she had a family, raised a family then went back to law school, and faced a level of discrimination … [She was] top of her class and came in guns blazing, but was cast aside. Women in those days were often segregated within the law firms that were hiring them … to think about how far she had to come and how hard she fought to make sure we had the rights we deserve [and] to protect our interests as women … We have lost a true champion and it hurts.”
The program continues until 6:30 p.m. ET and other guests include: Zendaya, Tracee Ellis Ross and Hannah Bronfman.
National Voter Registration Day is a bipartisan civic holiday that calls attention to the importance of registering to vote. The 2020 presidential elections are shaping up to be one for the record books: Kamal Harris is the first women of color to serve as the Vice Presidential candidate for a major party and Americans will be voting during a pandemic — a situation that is introducing a number of logistical challenges. To help galvanize voters in these unprecedented times, scores of fashion brands have also ramped up their efforts, among them are Birkenstock, Coach, Stuart Weitzman and Nike. The Swoosh is also a brand partner in today’s IG Live takeover.
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