news | Stephanie Rutt

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November 17, 2025 · 11:23 am

The Office of the First Lady

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt

I believe if Eleanor Roosevelt were here, she’d have a word or two to say about President Trump demolishing the East Wing of the White House. Built in 1902, it served as the official office for First Ladies. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32^nd president of the United States, was the first to professionalize the East Wing using it as a base of operations for her activism. She used the East Wing to expand the role of the first lady specifically to highlight women’s issues and organizations from the Girl Scouts to the Women’s Trade Union League. Her first news conference, March 6, 1933, featured 35 reporters, all of them women helping to elevate the role of women in national and political life as well as in journalism. (The 19^th, Haines, Becker, October 22, 2025)

Since then, all of our first ladies have gifted the American public with initiatives in support of causes they championed. Following Roosevelt, First Ladies Bess Turman, Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy were deeply involved in White House restoration with Jacqueline Kennedy founding the White House Historical Association in 1961. First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, championed the “War on Poverty” initiative and programs like Head Start. First Lady Pat Nixon engaged in much volunteerism visiting schools, orphanages, and hospitals.

First Lady Betty Ford reportedly said, “If the White House West Wing is the ‘mind’ of the nation, then the East Wing, the traditional power center for First Ladies, is the ‘Heart.’” (4NBCWashington, Darlene Superville, October 26, 2025) She and First Lady Roselyn Carter were strong advocates for mental health reform. First Lady Nancy Regan is remembered for her “Just Say No’’ antidrug abuse program. First Ladies Barbara Bush focused on literacy, Hillary Clinton on healthcare reform, Laura Bush also on literacy and women’s health. Michele Obama is known for her “Let’s Move!” initiative to combat childhood obesity, Melania Trump for her BE BEST program focusing on child welfare, and Jill Biden for her advocacy for military families.

Anita McBride, chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush, described the East Wing as a place of “purpose and service” and “tearing down those walls doesn’t diminish the significance of the work we accomplished there.” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, policy director for first lady Michelle Obama, said the demolition was a “symbolic blow” to the East Wing’s legacy as a place where women made history. In an interview she said, “The East Wing was this physical space that had seen the role of the first lady evolve from a social hostess into a powerful advocate on a range of issues.” (4NBCWashington, Darlene Superville, October 26, 2025)

And here we come to the key issue. It’s not hard to understand why the very place the wives of presidents have used to create and foster their own initiatives, dreams, indeed, exercise some measure of power unique to them, would be the very place demolished. The Trump administration is primarily focused on the implementing Project 2025, created by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation along with many Trump loyalists, aiming to restructure and concentrate power in the executive branch to execute policy strongly influenced by Christian Nationalism ideals. They seek, “to impose a hierarchical, gendered, patriarchal vision of society.” (National Women’s Law Center, “Project 2025 and What it Means for Women, Families and Gender Justice,” September 17, 2024)

This increasing concentration of power in the executive branch, a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, is Trump’s modus operandi. With an overly compliant judicial branch and a majority yes-man legislative branch, he says it and it happens, even when it comes to demolishing a wing of the historic People’s House — even when over half of those very people don’t approve. And for women, the symbolism is clear. Go home. Fall in line with the traditional role we conservatives envision for you. You are not here to make history. You are here to create children and support your family. Trouble is women have dreams too, of course, and need our democratic republic, free from homogenization and the imposition of religious tyranny, to thrive and serve just as men always have.

So, I write today to highlight all the first ladies and the dreams they pursued in the East Wing of the White House in service to our great nation. Though their space has been so ruthlessly and disrespectfully demolished, the historical imprint each has made on our nation, the many lives they touched through their efforts, cannot be so easily dismissed, erased and forgotten. Thank you.

And to all girls and women going forward, I say: Be brave. Follow in the footsteps of Eleanor Roosevelt. Dare to create your own space for the beauty of your dreams and, in doing so, make a future that belongs to you, our nation, and the world.

Image by EyeEm@freepik.com
(a representation of demolition – not the East Wing)

Gun Violence, Christian Nationalism, and the Unraveling of Democracy

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Anne Frank

People are scared. Political violence is spiraling out of control. What we need in this moment is a leader who recognizes the importance of bringing all peoples together as Americans and who is able to strongly condemn gun violence across the political spectrum.

We don’t have it.

Take the two shootings of national figures in the last three months. On June 14th, 2025, Melissa Hortman, a senior Democratic assemblywoman in the Minnesota House, and her husband Mark, were killed by a gunman posing as a police officer. While President Trump condemned the violence, he didn’t order flags to be flown at half-staff. He didn’t attend the funeral, reportedly choosing to play golf instead.

However, on September 11, 2025, when right-wing activist and a fierce loyalist to Trump, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated, Trump praised Kirk, ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and assured the family he’d be attending the funeral. And the “radical left” was blamed.

Trump is, indeed, the first President in American history who has not understood, or perhaps does but disagrees, that the President’s primary job is to be the leader of all Americans. Instead, the litmus test for his support is to show proper deference, praise and loyalty. If you do, you can’t go wrong. Incite violence, destroy property, harm police officers, as in the January 6^th insurrection, no problem. If it’s done in his name, you’ll be pardoned.

However, any protest not deemed to be supportive of the President’s agenda is quickly dismissed as radical and those participating are accused of trying to destroy the country. Clearly, it’s important to name here that we’re no longer a country subject to the rule of law. We’re now subjects of Trump and his law.

Given that Charlie Kirk is being mourned by the President and many Republicans as an almost prophetic figure, let’s explore what this self-professed Christian believed. Kirk, as many Trump loyalists, imagined a country based on Christian Nationalism which is clearly antithetical to democracy. It’s fueled largely by white supremacy, encourages the dominance of men over women, shuns LGBTQ+ persons, and above all, believes a narrow interpretation of Christian scripture should rule Congress, state governments and the court system. (*see below)

How did Kirk’s beliefs promote this ideology?

He blamed Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying it had been an anti-white weapon and called King an “awful” person. In 2021, delivering a speech in Mankato, Minn., he called George Floyd, the Black man whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a national movement, a “scumbag” who wasn’t worthy of the attention. (**see below)

When hearing about Travis Kelcy and Taylor Swift’s engagement, Kirk stated that he hoped it would make Swift more conservative and told her to, “Submit to your husband,” because, “You’re not in charge.” (August 27, 2025, The Economic Times by Aastha Raj) And in regards to our African American sisters, in the July 13, 2023 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, he suggested that prominent Black women, like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, were successful largely due to affirmative action and did not have the “brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously.”

He was critical of gay and transgender rights and promoted a fierce campaign against teaching gender ideology. While a staunch supporter of Israel, he made many disparaging comments against Jews including, “The philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors in the country.” (**see below) And, fundamentally, he was critical of the separation of church and state.

Sadly, he did fiercely support gun rights. “I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” (**see below)

Those who study history will recognize the parallels of Trump and the rise of Christian Nationalism in this country to the rise of Hitler in Germany before World War II. Primarily, Hitler was masterful at building loyalty and support within the German churches, eventually making his government and religion one. And we all know the result. The final solution for the Jews. Systemic persecution of Blacks, the disabled, gays to name a few. (*see below)

Still, even as I watch out my window and see ICE agents gathering up all the undesirables and see Trump targeting only Democratic cities with military control, all in support of this Christian Nationalist agenda, I remember Anne Frank and I refuse to allow my spirit to be broken.

Like her, I will continue to believe in what is possible in the face of overwhelming despair. I will fight hate by speaking out. And I will continue to look for the good in the hearts of all my brothers and sisters.

* April 27, 2024, “Christian Nationalism: A Grave Threat to America,” Daily Montanan
**Sept. 11, 2025, New York Times, “Where Charlie Kirk Stood on Key Political Issues”