evidence: Many times before her Tuskegee appearance, she had spoken about the country’s history of violence and discrimination against African Americans. She did it in Orangeburg, S.C., in 2007 to woo black support for her husband’s candidacy. She did it in Nashville during the 2012 reelection campaign, and in Topeka, Kan., in 2014 to mark the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. And she did it at other historically black universities, including Bowie State, Jackson State and North Carolina A&T. [...] The response to Obama’s remarks provided proof aplenty. Conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham saw "a litany of victimization." Media comment boards filled with talk of a "tirade" and an "America-hater" and an "angry woman who has no appreciation for the many gifts our country has bestowed on her." Someone wrote, "Can she or her husband ever just be Americans? Why do they always have to focus on their skin color? Repulsive." [...] Michelle Obama was dismayed by the rise of Donald Trump. She perceived danger in the candidacy of an unstudied Republican who lied with abandon and routinely mocked and disparaged rivals, critics and entire swathes of the American populace, all the while vowing to wreck much of what the Obama administration spent eight years building.