KALAMAZOO   -   Michelle Obama on Saturday night aired her “genuine fear” that Donald Trump could retake the White House as the popular former first lady made a passionate appeal to voters in the desperately close US election. Both Trump and Kamala Harris were in Michigan searching for holdout votes ahead of the November 5 election, with Harris focused on abortion rights and Trump returning to his anti-immigrant campaign theme.

Obama said Democratic candidate Harris would be an “extraordinary president of the United States” if elected in just 10 days.  But, with polls forecasting a virtual dead heat, she also spoke of a sense of frustration and anxiety that few on Harris’s team dare express after she lost some momentum in recent weeks.

“My hope about Kamala is also accompanied by some genuine fear,” Obama said, ripping into Trump’s record and asking, “Why is this race even close?” “I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse.” Obama, appearing alongside Harris, hammered home the vice president’s message that abortion rights -- and women’s health care overall -- are at stake on the ballot.

“Please do not hand our fates over to the likes of Trump,” Obama said, adding he could effectively ban abortion nationwide. At his rally, Trump launched bitter personal attacks on Harris and accused her of pushing an “open border” migration policy. “She’s a dope,” he said. “This person cannot be president.”

“She will destroy our country. Everyone knows it. No one respects her. The United States is now occupied country. Kamala broke it, we will fix it.” With more than 38 million people already casting early ballots, Americans are deciding whether to elect the country’s first-ever woman president, or its oldest commander in chief. Trump, 78, still refuses to accept his defeat in the vote four years ago and is expected to reject the result if he loses again -- potentially pitching the United States into chaos.

Trump swept the three Blue Wall states -- Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania -- in his shock victory in 2016 only to see Joe Biden reclaim them four years later. He hopes to claw back one or more of the trio, and win the so-called Sun Belt swing states to propel him back into power. After his Michigan event, Trump headed straight to Pennsylvania for another rally on Saturday evening.