It’s not exactly a well-kept political secret that there is no love lost between President Donald Trump and the Obamas.
The former first couple has made it a point to denigrate the president when given the chance — something Trump reciprocates.
And while now-former President Barack Obama may generally be a bit more subdued in his criticisms (call it presidential decorum or professional courtesy) of Trump, the same simply cannot be said for his wife.
Michelle Obama has readily admitted that Trump “keeps her up” at night.
So you can safely assume Mrs. Obama had some thoughts when her personal bogeyman began remodeling the East Wing of the White House.
Obama was in Brooklyn on Nov. 6 to celebrate the launch of her new book, “The Look.” The launch event doubled as a live taping for Obama’s podcast, “IMO,” according to Vanity Fair.
“When we talk about the East Wing, it is the heart of the work. 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,” Obama said.
Michelle Obama then seemed to intimate that Trump hadn’t gotten enough feedback from the first lady.
“Whether the West Wing understood it or not, I used to tell them: All the stuff we do on the East Wing, from the clothes I wear to [family dogs] Bo and Sunny to Malia and Sasha and grandma, those were five extra approval points that he got, because we provided a balance,” she said.
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Unsurprisingly, Trump returned volley during a Monday interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
First, he defended the $250 million price tag that’s usually cited in criticism.
“The East Wing is being spent by private donors. It’s a $250, $300 million building. It’s going to be the most beautiful anywhere in the world,” Trump told Ingraham.
Trump further explained why this renovation wasn’t some vanity project, like his critics would have you believe.
“They had an event [at the White House] the other day. With tables, they could hold 79 people. Now, if you have President Xi from China, or if you have some big state event, we have no place to have it. You know what they did? … They will put a tent on the lawn. It was a low section because that’s the only section you have,” Trump described.
“If it rained, you were sitting in six inches of water. It was a disaster.”
Trump also doubled down on how the old East Wing simply needed renovations — period.
“That building was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor to the top, which was terrible,” Trump said.
He added: “It looked like hell. It had nothing to do with the original building, and I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an okay ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle.”
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