President Donald Trump didn’t mince words Tuesday, taking aim at the design of former President Barack Obama’s presidential library.
When asked about it in the Oval Office, Trump said simply, “It’s not too pretty. He wanted only women and DEI to build it. Well? That’s what they got.”
Obama’s $850 million library, rising on Chicago’s South Side, has faced criticism for its towering, obelisk-like design.
Trump drew a sharp contrast with his own record as a builder.
“I built a great building in Chicago, as you know — a big, beautiful building, one of the tallest buildings in the country — and we got it built very quickly, very well, and we used the construction workers of Chicago. They’re great workers. They’re great construction people. And I suggest that you get them involved,” he said.
“But they’re hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, and I think it stopped. I’m reading these terrible stories, but that’s the way our country was run under President Obama, too. Nobody knew it,” Trump added.
The “Obamalisk,” as critics call it, stands 225 feet tall and includes a community library and an NBA-sized basketball court. Yet the building won’t hold the physical records of Obama’s presidency — only digital versions.
Historians have voiced concern that the Obama Foundation, not the National Archives, will control access to those records — a fitting symbol, they say, of a legacy long on image and short on substance.
Watch the clip below:
President Trump on Barack Obama’s presidential library: “He needs help… It’s not too pretty… They’re stuck and he wanted only women and DEI to build it. Well, that's what he got… They're hundreds of millions over budget..s that's the way our country was run under President… pic.twitter.com/TmRmPpSE9c
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) October 21, 2025
