Former first lady Michelle Obama had harsh words to say about what President Donald Trump’s razing of the East Wing of the White House means for the country at large.
Until Trump’s planned demolition began last month for the construction of a new ballroom, the East Wing served as the traditional office for whoever was serving as first lady.
Obama sees the destruction more as a “loss for us as a nation,” she told podcaster Jamie Kern Lima on Tuesday. Still, she did share how the news affected her physically.
“I think in my body, I felt confusion, because I’m like, who are we? What do we value? And who decides that?” Obama said. “That’s the thing that’s going through my head a lot lately. Who are we? What are the rules? Because I’m confused by... what are our norms and our mores? Not the laws, but how do we live together? That’s the part of it that hurts.”
She added that she felt the loss mostly for America because, “personally, you know… that’s not our house. That’s the people’s house.”
Obama also elaborated on the East Wing’s place in American history when speaking to Stephen Colbert earlier this month, saying that it was “where life happened.”
She explained: “The West Wing was work. Sometimes it was sadness, it was problems, it was the guts of the White House, and the East Wing was where you felt light. That’s where children came. We had puppies.”
In an appearance a few days later at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House, Obama said the current state of the East Wing reflects how Trump feels about the first lady’s role in his administration.
“When we talk about the East Wing, it is the heart of the work,” Obama said. “And to denigrate it, to tear it down, to pretend like it doesn’t matter — it’s a reflection of how you think of that role.”
You can watch the exchange starting around the 13-minute mark below.