Donald Trump and Barack Obama continue to throw shade at each other, this time with the president taking jabs over his predecessor’s unfinished and long-awaited library and museum.
During the Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on May 6, Trump, a longtime New York real estate mogul, was discussing the difficulties of construction and took a detour rip on his reported troubles with the project.
“President Obama – and if he wanted help, I’d give him help because I’m a really good builder and I build on time, on budget – he’s building his library in Chicago, and it’s a disaster,” Trump said.
The Obama Presidential Center is an ambitious 19-acre project being built as a tribute to the former president in the heart of a South Side neighborhood. The construction is “near substantial completion,” according to the former president’s foundation, but it has been besieged by significant delays and has gone well over budget.
Its initial cost of $350 million, has ballooned to $830 million. The center was originally supposed to open in 2021, but last year officials announced it wouldn’t be open to the public until 2026.
But supporters say the center, which is privately funded, is aimed at revitalizing a historic public park in Chicago’s South Side with various community partners and projected to generate $3 billion in economic activity.
Plans for the facility include building a forum for local and international gatherings, an athletic center for the community, a walking trail, a great lawn, a sledding hill and a playground. It is projected to be a catalyst for economic development.
“Everyone who sees the Obama Presidential Center is blown away by its beauty, scale and the way it will be an economic engine for Chicago and a beacon of hope for the world,” Obama Foundation spokeswoman Emily Bittner told USA TODAY in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming all visitors to the 19.3-acre campus next spring, to experience a presidential center that not only honors the Obamas’ legacy but also lifts up the next generation of leaders.”
Trump’s critiques went further during the Oval Office meeting. He argued the Obama library’s woes were due to its emphasis on hiring local and minority-owned companies. The Obama Foundation has said that about 35% of subcontractors would be minority-owned businesses, 15% would be women-owned and 9% would be from the greater Chicago area.
“And (Obama) said something to the effect of, ‘I only want DEI. I only want woke.’ He wants woke people to build it,” Trump said. “Well, he’s got woke people.”
The project took a reputational hit earlier this year after a Black-owned subcontracting company filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against another contractor. But the foundation is not a party to that dispute, and officials said it would have no impact on the center’s opening timeline given it was filed after the work was completed.
Obama has been critical of Trump 2.0
The two men were cordial to one another at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter earlier this year, even sharing a laugh, but Obama hasn’t shied away from expressing his disapproval of Trump’s use of executive authority in his second term.