As President Trump continues on with destruction of the White House’s east wing during the government shutdown, “The View” host Sunny Hostin is appalled. She also thinks it “says a lot” about how Trump views his wife.
Discussion of the destruction led the day’s Hot Topics, with the ABC hosts largely calling out the optics of the move. Considering that the government is shut down and federal employees aren’t getting paid, host Joy Behar reiterated a common sentiment among the women that it’s Trump’s way of saying “let them eat cake.”
And though Hostin is equally bothered by the “gaudy, tacky, nasty” ballroom that will eventually be built where the East Wing once was, she was also quick to point out that the East Wing has historically housed the office of the First Lady.
“Imagine if your husband decided to tear down the part of your house that you hang out in,” she said. “I mean, it says a lot about their relationship, it says a lot about the role of the First Lady in his administration, and it says a lot about what he thinks, I think, about the First Lady.”
Hostin was even more upset by the history being lost in the destruction, especially considering Trump originally promised that the East Wing would remain mostly intact.
“Betty Ford argued to increase pay for her staff in the East Wing, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first First Lady to make that the Office of the First Lady,” she regaled. “Laura Bush launched her literacy efforts, Michelle Obama oversaw her ‘Let’s Move’ campaign.”
Hostin then recalled a quote from Betty Ford, who once said, “If the West Wing is the mind of the nation, then the East Wing is the heart.”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
