Michelle Obama spoke out about President Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing during a recent interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert.
The former first lady has been on a media blitz to promote her latest book, “The Look,” which features more than 200 images of Obama’s most iconic looks throughout her time in the public eye. During “The Late Show” on Tuesday, Colbert noted that many of those photos were taken in the East Wing before Obama jumped in with her own joke.
“Remember that?” Obama asked with a laugh, referring to the now-demolished East Wing of the White House.
Colbert then asked Obama to speak about the “heart” of the East Wing “that is now lost.” The East Wing houses the first lady’s office was also part of the White House that was traditionally featured on public tours of the building.
“The West Wing was work. Sometimes it was sadness, it was problems,” Obama said. “It was the guts of the White House, and the East Wing was where you felt light.”
“It was an important distinction, because the West Wing team, they needed that break. You know, they needed to come to a place where they could be reminded of the reason we were doing this,” she added.
She then addressed Trump’s decision to demolish the East Wing and replace it with a ballroom.
“What I will remind people is: that house is not our house,” she said. “We never viewed it as our house. We were there for a time. We had a job to do. We always felt it was the People’s House.”
She explained that every administration has a “right and a duty to maintain the house, make investments and improvements,” but questioned whether the historical norms were being broken with Trump’s renovations.
“It makes me confused. I am confused by what are our norms? What are our standards? What are our traditions? I just feel like what is important to us as a nation anymore, because I’m lost. There were a whole standard of norms and rules that we followed to a T that we painstakingly tried to uphold, because it was bigger than us,” Obama said. “That East Wing…it’s not mine. It is ours.”
“I am lost, and I hope that more Americans feel lost in a way that they want to be found. Again, because it’s up to us to find what we’re losing,” she added.
Trump is building a 90,000-square foot ballroom in the White House—a project that is being footed by wealthy donors and corporations. He has received widespread backlash as critics questioned the legality of Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing of the People’s House.
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