Thursday saw the opening of former President Barack Obama’s presidential center in Chicago, Illinois.
The bleak, gray, imposing eyesore cost $850 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Former presidents Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush were in attendance, but absent from the ceremonies was President Donald Trump, who was not invited.
WMAQ-TV reported Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett justified the decision, saying the event’s focus needed to be on the former president and his supporters.
Despite Trump’s absence, Obama took a dig at him during his address while singing the praises of other Republicans like his former election opponents, the late Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
According to the Hill, he told the audience, “Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in, no less than I did.”
The remark about Trump came with one of the left’s favorite phrases about the president: “No kings.”
“In the newly independent United States, there will be no kings, or lords, no serfs, or subjects, but only citizens. Each of us free to pursue our own version of happiness,” he told the cheering crowd.
Barack Hussein Obama @BarackObama appeared to give a shout-out to the “No Kings” anti-Trump protesters during his library opening today.
Hussein Obama declared:
“In the newly independent United States, there will be no kings.”
Funny, because Hussein Obama acted like a king… pic.twitter.com/QeuLdSVZdH
— Loomer Unleashed (@LoomerUnleashed) June 18, 2026
Time Magazine included further remarks that one could also interpret with political relevance.
“It’s tempting to give in to cynicism and even despair, to stop trying …When we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters … we open the door to the most ruthless or the most careless or the most fearful among us who see some groups and some people as more equal than others and see government as nothing more than a way to divvy up the spoils and punish enemies and keep those who are different in their place.”
The remarks are emblematic of Obama’s demeanor.
The former president puts on a front that he is above political squabbles, petty remarks, and catch phrases, but that’s not the truth.
Despite trying to come off in a more professional, mature fashion, he was making clear barbs at Trump, and poor ones, at that.
Certainly, Obama will remember when Trump defeated his hand-picked successor, former first lady Hillary Clinton, in 2016, and the other elections Trump has won.
Trump is an elected official — the opposite of a monarch. One need not have an advanced degree in government or study the history of hereditary rule to understand those facts.
Do you think Obama’s presidential center looks ugly?
The rebuttal to this criticism of Obama will be that Trump’s political playbook is equally belittling, insulting, and immature.
We can make that concession, but there’s a major difference: Trump is forthcoming with his tactics.
He doesn’t try to hide behind a mask, acting like he’s the only adult in the room.
Every American understands what Trumpian politics looks like; this is perhaps the only place there’s consensus.
Obama still desperately wants us to believe he’s different.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
