Trump reveals frustration as advisers warn him not to attack Michelle Obama

Republican tells rally he would have loved to ‘hit back’ after former first lady criticised him, but was counselled not to

Donald Trump was warned by his aides not to attack Michelle Obama on the campaign trail after the former first lady harshly criticised him.
Mrs Obama said Trump was “a small man trying to make himself big” by exploiting “pain and anger and fear” in a speech on Saturday.
It follows similar comments about the Republican candidate’s “gross incompetence” and “obvious mental decline” as the former first lady abandoned her “when they go low, we go high” mantra.
Trump raised Mrs Obama’s insults at one of his final rallies before election day during an appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Michelle hit me,” he told supporters. “I was so nice to her, out of respect, I was so nice. She hit me the other day.”
He re-enacted a conversation he had with his advisers about the former first lady’s jibes, referring to the aides as “my geniuses”.
“I was going to say to my people: ‘Am I allowed to hit her now’?’’ he told the crowd. “They said, ‘Take it easy, sir. Sir, take it easy’. My geniuses, they said, ‘Just take it easy’.”
Trump said he asked his team: “What do you mean, she said bad about me, I can’t hit back?” to which they replied: “Sir, you’re winning, just relax”.
“I’d actually love to hit back,” he continued, but added: “I’ve always treated her very nicely.”
Mrs Obama remains one of the Democrats’ most popular figures and has lent her star power to Kamala Harris in the last fortnight as the US vice-president looks to shore up her sizeable majority among female voters.
The warnings from Trump’s advisers came as the data suggests women have far outpaced men in early voting, triggering alarm within the Republican’s inner circle.
Trump has surrounded himself with a small and professional team of advisers in stark contrast to his free-wheeling 2016 campaign. It is led by two respected strategists, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, who for months have run a disciplined, message-focused campaign.
However, as the polls tightened following Ms Harris’ entry into the race, insiders have revealed that Trump has become increasingly agitated and his aides have found it more difficult to rein in his off-script remarks.
The Harris campaign was quick to share a clip of Trump’s comments on social media, quoting the former president saying: “Am I allowed to hit her now? I’d love to hit her back”.
It is not the first time Trump has confessed to struggling with personal attacks, reportedly telling advisers over the summer that he struggled not to retaliate against political opponents because he felt so much hostility towards them.
The former president has repeatedly been advised by his advisers to focus on bread and butter issues such as the economy and immigration, which data show appeals to more voters than the ad-hominem slurs which delight his base.
In August, he retaliated to barbs made by Mrs Obama and her husband, the former president Barack Obama in their addresses to the Democratic national convention.
The Democratic power couple repeatedly ridiculed Trump, who succeeded them in the White House in 2017, in televised primetime speeches in a marked shift from their previous entreaties to Democrats to avoid denigrating opponents.
Mrs Obama accused Trump of “ugly, misogynistic, racist lies”, while her husband mocked Trump for having a “weird obsession with crowd sizes” while making a crudely suggestive hand gesture.
Trump hit back at the couple for “taking shots” at him during a rally, and argued it justified his own behaviour on the campaign trail.
He impersonated his campaign advisers’ warnings to him, adding: “Do I still have to stick to policy?”
At his rally in North Carolina on Monday, Trump polled the “ladies of North Carolina” for whether he should continue to heed his aides’ advice.
“Oh, you say hit back,” Trump told the crowd. “I’d actually love to hit back. But we’ll hold it a little while.”