The Obamas are known for their closely coordinated political messaging, but Donald Trump's second inauguration has the couple divided in a very public way.

Michelle Obama will not be attending Trump's swearing-in next Monday, an apparent snub of the president-elect. Barack Obama will be there, continuing the tradition of setting aside partisan differences to respect the will of the people.

“Former President Barack Obama is confirmed to attend the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the upcoming inauguration,” a statement said.

Michelle Obama's boycott

Michelle Obama's boycott is notable, with even Hillary Clinton expected to join the traditional gathering of former presidents and their wives.

Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump in a shocking upset, and she has made no secret of her difficulty with accepting the result.

Michelle Obama also did not attend Jimmy Carter's state funeral, where Trump and President Obama made cordial conversation despite their political rivalry.

“It did look very friendly, I must say. I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network just a little while ago before I came in,” Trump told a reporter afterward. “And I said, ‘Boy, they look like two people who like each other.’”

Unlike her politician husband, Michelle Obama is not one to keep her feelings to herself, and she has no desire to stand on ceremony on January 20.

"There's no overstating her feelings about [Trump]. She's not one to plaster on a pleasant face and pretend for protocol's sake," one source told People. "Michelle doesn't do anything because it's expected or it's protocol or it's tradition."

Going low

Michelle Obama attended Trump's first inauguration in 2017, and later confessed the spectacle shook her.

"To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display, there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage,” she said on her show The Light Podcast in 2023. “There was no reflection of the broader sense of America. Many people took pictures of me and they’re like, you weren’t in a good mood. No, I was not.”

Michelle Obama discarded her famous "when they go low, we go high" aphorism on the campaign trail in 2024, as she and her husband both attacked Trump in pointed terms and claimed he would place women's lives at risk. Voters rejected the alarmist rhetoric and sent Trump back to Washington for a second non-consecutive term.

After Trump's spectacular return, it appears Michelle Obama has finally lost all interest in civility. At the very least, she gets some credit for consistency.

While other Democrats repeatedly compared Trump to Hitler, only to accept his victory, Michelle is actually treating Trump like he's a threat to democracy.