of President Donald Trump and sparked controversy in Chicago, but Obama remains hopeful about it.
Trump launches ‘DEI’ criticism of the Obama Presidential Center
Trump, who paved over the White House Rose Garden and is currently demolishing a portion of the White House as part of a privately funded, $250 million ballroom project, recently criticized the Obama Presidential Center. “He needs help,” and “it’s not too pretty,” Trump said about the complex being built in Chicago. Trump, who has a history of seeming to hold petty grudges against Obama and other former presidents, made unsubstantiated claims that the project “ran out of money” and was “stuck.” Trump also threw in racism and sexism into his criticism, saying that “he wanted only women and DEI to build it. That’s what they got.”
A costly and controversial project
The Obama Presidential Center, an approximately $850 million project, has attracted its fair share of controversy. An environmentalist group sued to stop construction, arguing the city had illegally transferred land in Jackson Park to the private Obama Foundation; a judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2019. More generally, critics have worried that it would contribute to gentrification in Chicago. Others have criticized the facility’s historical and academic value, noting that it’s owned by the Obama Foundation rather than operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, and the foundation is paying the National Archives to digitize the Obama records rather than physically host the papers there.
Source: Obama Presidential Center Draws Criticism, Inspires Hope As Construction Continues
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