The Obama Presidential Center opened in Chicago on Thursday with a high-profile celebration that included performances by Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, and the Roots—an event Trump was not invited to, despite George W. Bu
For the second time in just a handful of days, Donald Trump found himself staring at a stage he believed should have been his—then realizing it wasn’t going to be.
On Thursday, the Obama Presidential Center opened in Chicago, and the contrast was built right into the guest list. Trump was pointedly not invited. George W. Bush was. The ceremony itself leaned into star power. with Bruce Springsteen. Jennifer Hudson. Christina Aguilera. John Legend. and the Roots all appearing as megawatt performances filled the event.
Inside the storyline Trump couldn’t control. the celebration arrived on the same day the White House’s Iran “deal” helped cement Trump’s reputation as “the worst president in history. ” according to the writer of the piece. The current president signed that agreement, described as looking like “a surrender,” in a war Trump himself started alongside Israel. Trump. the article says. responded the way he has when he loses—declaring he won anyway—while the details of the agreement. including an apparent $300 billion reparations fund for Iran. made it harder to sell a victory narrative.
The Obama center opening didn’t happen in isolation. It came after days in which Trump looked, by the piece’s account, visibly rattled in France. On Wednesday. the 80-year-old president held a 70-minute long press conference in France. flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The article describes Trump as wheezing and rambling hoarsely, sounding defeated and exhausted—then failing to bring his usual bombast. Trump was also scheduled to be at the White House Thursday morning for press questions. but did not show up. instead sending Vice President JD Vance out to field questions and act aggrieved as the administration tried to spin what the piece calls a humiliating loss as a glorious victory.
The article frames that pressure as more than a diplomatic and political problem—it paints Trump’s response as a long-simmering reaction to Barack Obama. It traces a throughline beginning years before Trump ran for president. when it says Trump spent much of 2011 pushing the racist conspiracy theory that Obama could not be a native-born citizen. It says Obama mocked him while Trump seethed at the White House Correspondents Dinner. a moment the article portrays as a narcissistic injury that still stings Trump. Over the next decade-plus. the piece says Trump tried to destroy Obama’s legacy and. despite two presidential wins. failed—leaving the country with heightened nostalgia for the Obama years.
That resentment shows up again in the Obama center itself, which the article says Trump has spent months targeting. It calls the installation a 19-acre. $850 million project featuring a library. a basketball court. a community garden. and a 225-foot tower containing a museum. Trump. the piece says. insisted it was “not too pretty” and a “total disaster. ” and claimed it would never be finished. It also says he kept trying to undercut the project with posts on Truth Social. repeatedly sharing an AI-generated meme depicting the Obama tower as a trash can and calling it “Mecca”—a nod. in the article’s telling. to Trump’s earlier racist conspiracy theory that Obama was secretly a Muslim born in Africa.
The article then places the personal grievance next to Trump’s efforts to reshape Washington, D.C., in a more self-referential direction—moves that it presents as driven by the same impulse: to keep credit and legacy from drifting to anyone else.
It says Trump stacked the board of the Kennedy Center with lackeys, who then put his name on the building. The piece describes that as an attempt to sully and steal the legacy of the assassinated former president. It adds that after legal wrangling. plaintiffs in a public interest lawsuit were able to force Trump to take his name off the building.
It also describes how Trump had the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial repainted for $14 million to make it “clean, beautiful water,” only for the pool to fill with algae as the 12-day-old paint began peeling—an outcome visitors have been posting on videos.
Beyond those already-public fights. the article says other projects are still in motion. including a ballroom on the White House and an arch that would obscure the view of the eternal flame on JFK’s Arlington grave. It notes new reports about Trump pillaging the Treasury for funds to build the former. despite promising he wouldn’t tap taxpayer funds.
And with the arch, the push is colliding with law. The piece says Congressional Democrats sent a letter to National Park Services this week. warning officials it’s illegal to build the arch and threatening criminal prosecution if they proceed. The writer adds that Democrats are expected to take the House in November’s election and will hold the power to prosecute if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2028.
One thread in the article is that Trump’s obsession with monuments—whether aimed at Obama or himself—also reflects fear about what will remain when he’s gone. It cites Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., saying: “He’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone.”
After Thursday’s ceremony. the piece concludes there is little doubt the Obama Presidential Center will become a popular attraction in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side. It says that will be true for the next two years as visitors come for refuge from the current political mood. seeking comfort in the memory of a president the article says made many Americans feel proud—despite Obama’s flaws. It also says the hope is that any damage Trump does to Washington, D.C., can be undone.
At the ceremony itself, the article points to a performance from Bruce Springsteen: “Land of Hope,” including the lyric “Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine/And all this darkness past.” It says the massive crowd was touched and beautiful—and ends with the writer hoping Trump was watching and seething.
Obama Presidential Center Chicago Donald Trump Barack Obama Iran deal Marco Rubio Howard Lutnick JD Vance Kennedy Center Reflecting Pool National Park Service Jon Ossoff
So they snubbed Trump? Cool.
I didn’t even know this Obama Center opened already, but of course the headline is about who got invited. Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson though… that part actually sounds fun. Wonder if Trump is mad because he wasn’t on the flyer.
This is like when my cousin didn’t get invited to a BBQ and then talked about it for a week 😂 But also, didn’t Trump start that whole Iran thing with Israel? How does that connect to a music event in Chicago, like cmon. Sounds like the article just trying to make a storyline out of everything.
Trump not invited again, so what, that’s literally politics. But wait—George W. Bush was invited? That means the Bush family still plays both sides or whatever. And the Iran deal being called a surrender… I mean I heard a bunch of stuff about it, but I’m not sure what this has to do with opening a center. Either way, it’s gonna be ratings no matter what.