Politics
WATCH: Trump Ridicules Obama’s Strange Presidential Library: ‘Not Too Pretty’
While taking questions in the Oval Office Tuesday, President Donald Trump had a hilarious response to a question about former President Barack Obama’s strange choice of building for his presidential library in Chicago.
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a planned museum, library, and community hub in Chicago’s Jackson Park on the South Side, designed to commemorate Barack Obama’s presidency and legacy. Unlike traditional presidential libraries, it will be the first fully digitized one, with archives housed at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Maryland.
The Chicago site will focus on on public exhibits, education programs, and green spaces in partnership with the University of Chicago. The project, led by the nonprofit Obama Foundation, which emphasizes “civic engagement and youth leadership.” The project is transforming 19.3 acres of public parkland into a campus with a 235-foot tower, library branch, athletic facilities, and landscaped gardens.
In total, the project’s estimated cost is around $830 million, including construction, which has reached over $615 million as of late 2024. The budget has significantly overrun its original $350–$500 million estimate from 2015–2017, climbing to $700 million by 2021 due to inflation, design changes, and delays.
The building’s strange, brutalist design has also raised eyebrows. Conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza likened it to a North Korean guard tower, while others have said it reminds them of Soviet architecture.
If you’re wondering where Obama got the inspiration for his presidential library, the other building shown below is a North Korean guard tower. pic.twitter.com/xtTtCss6nT
— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 19, 2025
While speaking with reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday, President Trump was asked if he had seen any progress on the building and whether he had any opinion on the project’s high costs and delayed schedule. The president confirmed that he had seen the building, adding that his predecessor “needs help.”
“It’s not too pretty,” Trump said of the strange design choice. No, but it’s closed. It stopped. They ran out of money. It means building a library slash museum. You know, you call it some museum, some… And usually they call it a library and a museum. That’s the official name. And they’re stuck.”
The president then stated that Obama “wanted only women and DEI to build it. Well… that’s what they got.”
The center is primarily privately funded through donations to the Obama Foundation, which raised $232.6 million in 2017 alone and continues fundraising, though totals dropped in 2023 after a record year. Donors are listed publicly on the foundation’s website without specific amounts.
The City of Chicago is covering about $175 million in infrastructure improvements (e.g., roadway changes), and a $5 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation supported the public library branch. As part of the deal, the foundation pledged a $470 million reserve fund to shield taxpayers from long-term maintenance liabilities, but it has only deposited $1 million so far, drawing criticism.
