Michelle Obama slams Donald Trump and endorses Joe Biden in rousing speech

The former first lady Michelle Obama has criticized Donald Trump's abilities as president of the United States in a rousing speech delivered at the end of the first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention on Monday.

In her 19-minute address, Obama also endorsed Joe Biden, urging the US people to turn up to the polling stations in November to vote Trump out of power.

Watch Obama's full speech below:

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In the prerecorded speech, Obama lambasted President Trump's "utter lack of empathy", adding:

"Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country.

"He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is."

She added: "So if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: 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 also spoke about how the country has changed since her husband left the Oval Office, saying:

"More than 150,000 people have died, and our economy is in shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long.

"It has left millions of people jobless. Too many have lost their health care; too many are struggling to take care of basic necessities like food and rent; too many communities have been left in the lurch to grapple with whether and how to open our schools safely.

"Internationally, we've turned our back, not just on agreements forged by my husband, but on alliances championed by presidents like Reagan and Eisenhower."

Referencing the Black Lives Matter movement that has swept across the US over the last few months, Obama said:

"Here at home, as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and a never-ending list of innocent people of color continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a Black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office."

Obama then harked back to her powerful 2016 Democratic National Convention speech, as she called for Americans to keep "going high" while others are continuing to "go low".

"But let’s be clear: Going high does not mean putting on a smile and saying nice things when confronted by viciousness and cruelty.

"Going high means standing fierce against hatred while remembering that we are one nation under God, and if we want to survive, we’ve got to find a way to live together and work together across our differences."

Addressing Joe Biden, Obama then said: "Now, Joe is not perfect. And he'd be the first to tell you that.

"But there is no perfect candidate, no perfect president. And his ability to learn and grow—we find in that the kind of humility and maturity that so many of us yearn for right now. Because Joe Biden has served this nation his entire life without ever losing sight of who he is; but more than that, he has never lost sight of who we are, all of us."

In a follow-up tweet following her speech, Michelle Obama reiterated her stance to her 16.4 million followers: "If we want to end the chaos and division—and keep alive the possibility of progress on the issues we hold dear—we’ve got to vote for @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris like our lives depend on it. Register today by texting VOTE to 30330."

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Sen. Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama are both expected to deliver live speeches from various locations across the country across the rest of the convention.

In addition, Biden is currently being billed to formally accept the party’s nomination on Thursday and deliver the convention's concluding speech.