Michelle Obama breaks the silence by skipping Trump’s inauguration
Former woman, Michelle Obama, has denied rumors of divorce from her husband and says she is reevaluating her public appearance.
Donald Trump and Barack Obama continued to throw shade at each other, this time the president took the jabs over the predecessor’s unfinished and much-anticipated library and museum.
During an oval office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Kearney on May 6, longtime New York real estate mogul Trump discussed construction difficulties and detoured it to troubles reported on the project.
“President Obama – if he wants help, I’m a really good builder and I’m building on time on budget, so I’m giving him help. He’s building a library in Chicago. That’s a disaster,” Trump said.
The Obama Presidential Center is an ambitious 19-acre project built in honor of the former president at the heart of the Southside district. Construction is almost completely finished, but is surrounded by substantial delays and exceeds the budget, according to the former Presidential Foundation.
Its initial cost was $350 million, reaching $830 million. The center was originally supposed to open in 2021, but last year officials announced that it will not be open to the public until 2026.
However, supporters say the privately funded center aims to revitalize the historic park on the south side of Chicago along with various community partners, and is projected to generate $3 billion in economic activity.
The facility’s plans include a forum for local and international gatherings, a community athletic centre, walking trails, great lawns, sled hills and playgrounds. It is predicted to be a catalyst for economic development.
“Everyone who sees the Obama Presidential Center is blown away by its beauty, its size and how it is Chicago’s economic engine and a beacon of hope for the world,” Obama Foundation spokeswoman Emily Bittner told USA in a statement. “We look forward to seeing all visitors to our 19.3-acre campus next spring, celebrating Obama’s legacy, as well as experiencing the Presidential Center, which will lift the next generation of leaders.”
Trump’s criticism went further during the oval office meeting. He argued that the misery at the Obama Library was due to its emphasis on local and minority businesses hiring. The Obama Foundation says that about 35% of subcontractors are minority-owned businesses, 15% are women-owned and 9% come from the Chicago area.
“And (Obama) said something to the effect of “I only want Day, I just want to wake up.” He wants people to wake up to make it,” Trump said. “Well, he’s awake.”
The project was hit with a high reputation earlier this year after a black-owned subcontractor filed a racist lawsuit against another contractor. However, the foundation is not a party to the dispute, and the authorities said it would not affect the center’s opening timeline as it was submitted after work was completed.
Obama was critical of Trump 2.0
The two men, who worked sincerely with each other at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter earlier this year, even sharing laughs, but Obama has not avoided expressing his disapproval of Trump’s use of enforcement in his second term.
In April, for example, Obama encouraged universities and law firms to resist administration actions and to stick to democratic values. He denounced the Trump administration for canceling federal contracts with businesses associated with political rivals, banning masks and blocking hundreds of millions of people for universities that refused to eliminate diversity programs.
“This kind of behavior is against the basic compact we have as Americans,” he said. He challenged the audience at Hamilton College in New York.
Obama also swipes Trump to launch Associated Press from an official event of retaliation for Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico.
“Imagine deducting a Fox News qualification from the White House press squad,” Obama said in April. “You’re laughing, but this is what’s going on.”
Trump has recently pushed forward with false claims that Obama was not born in the US a decade ago, and has complemented Obama somewhat. For example, in the 2024 presidential election, he called Obama a “love and respectful” and a “love gentleman.”
When Trump entertained the unconstitutional idea of seeking a third term, he cheered the idea of opposition to Obama.
“I love it, boy, I love it,” he said.
