President Donald Trump took time out from his war of words with Canada to launch into a bizarre rant on the construction of former President Barack Obama’s presidential center.
While meeting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Oval Office on Tuesday, the president sailed off course after a reporter asked how long it would take for his administration’s investments to be reflected in the economic data.
Trump replied by criticizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, claiming without evidence that they have held up publicly funded projects.
Then the onetime New York real estate investor seized on Obama’s unfinished library and museum, which is being constructed in the heart of a South Side neighborhood in Chicago.
“President Obama... if he wanted help, I’d give him help, because I’m a really good builder, and I build on time, on budget,” Trump boasted. “He’s building his library in Chicago. It’s a disaster.”
“And he said something to the effect, ‘I only want DEI. I only want woke,’” he claimed of his predecessor. “He wants woke people to build it. Well, he got woke people.”
The ambitious 19-acre project was initially set to cost $350 million, but the cost has ballooned to $830 million. A scheduled 2021 opening has been delayed until spring 2026.
The Obama Foundation has said that about 35% of subcontractors for the construction project would be minority-owned businesses, but there’s nothing to suggest that the inclusion efforts have had anything to do with the cost overruns.
Claiming Obama “wanted to be very politically correct,” Trump then painted a picture of the kind of crew he would have put on the job.
“He didn’t use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love,” he said, adding: “I love those construction workers, but he didn’t want construction workers. He wanted people that, like, never did it before.”
On social media, few were taking the president’s insights seriously.
“Can confirm that the people working on Obama’s presidential center keep doing land acknowledgments and screaming their pronouns so no work is getting done,” joked former Obama staffer and podcaster Tommy Vietor.
“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 spokesperson Emily Bittner said in a statement, per USA Today.
“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.”
Watch Trump’s tirade below: