Former First Lady Michelle Obama recently disclosed in an interview with late-night show host Jimmy Fallon that she was not invited to the White House to hang her official portrait, in what seemed like a subtle dig at former President Donald Trump.
When asked if she had returned to the White House, Obama responded with a simple "wasn't invited" while making light of the situation, "Who's she?".
According to Obama, it is customary for the next President to invite their predecessor back to the White House to hang their official portrait. She told Fallon the Trump administration did not extend the Obamas the same courtesy. "That's tradition. You do your official portraits. The next president is supposed to invite you back to hang them. We were never invited back," Obama explained.
However, in 2022, President Joe Biden hosted the Obamas to honor them for their portrait unveiling, marking the first time that Michelle Obama had visited the White House in five years. She described it as a beautiful experience.
In her 2022 memoir, "The Light We Carry," Obama wrote about how she felt shaken and hurt by Trump's victory in the 2016 election. She expressed her disappointment and disbelief about the man who replaced her husband as President, openly using ethnic slurs, making selfishness and hate acceptable, and refusing to condemn white supremacists or support people demonstrating for racial justice.
Obama has previously discussed her emotional struggles after leaving the White House. During an episode of her podcast, she spoke about crying uncontrollably for 30 minutes after boarding Air Force One for the last time. After holding it together for eight years, she explained that leaving the White House was a profound experience.
Additionally, Michelle Obama criticized Trump's inauguration for its lack of diversity. She remarked that the audience did not reflect the broader sense of America and was the opposite of what she and Barack represented. "To sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage," she said.
Michelle Obama's remarks demonstrate the tension between the Obamas and Trump during his presidency, particularly regarding the traditional presidential courtesy of inviting previous administrations back to the White House for official portrait unveilings.
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