The irony is impossible to miss.
Nearly a decade after dismantling former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement — a painstakingly negotiated nuclear treaty with Iran — President Donald Trump found himself defending a hastily stitched-together agreement that ends the Iran conflict, a wildly unpopular war he unilaterally started. It invited uncomfortable comparisons to what his predecessor created and what Trump destroyed.
That dynamic, however, points to a larger truth: You can’t understand Trump without Obama. And it’s hard to see why Obama continues to live rent-free in Trump’s head without understanding what the first Black president represents to his successor, the creator of the MAGAverse.
Obama the man, and his historic presidency are benchmarks of achievement, popularity and historical stature that Trump has, obviously, spent years trying to surpass — and likely never will.
Trump’s Iran agreement immediately invited comparison to Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump spent years attacking. It was negotiated in 2015, ran 159 pages and was the product of grinding diplomacy involving European allies, Russia, China and international inspectors. Supporters argued it significantly slowed Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon without requiring military intervention.
Now, after military strikes, American casualties, economic disruption and months of instability, he has arrived at an arrangement that many critics view as narrower and less durable than the one he discarded.
As Trump took fire from the left and right over his Iran strategy, Obama — trim, erudite, captivating — stood at a lectern on Chicago’s South Side before thousands gathered to celebrate the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, a project more than a decade in the making.
Every living presidential couple attended — except one.
The absence was notable because the Obama Center itself embodies a fundamentally different vision of legacy. Trump’s public life has often been defined by monuments to himself — buildings, brands and projects carrying his name. Obama’s center was conceived as a civic space first and a presidential monument second.
“The exhibits in the center are not meant to evoke nostalgia for some gauzy bygone era,” Obama said during the dedication. Instead, he spoke about democratic institutions, civic engagement, integrity, public service and the peaceful transfer of power.
That silence matters because Trump’s relationship with Obama has never been entirely ideological. It has always carried the unmistakable undertones of white anger and grievance.
It’s because the first Black president achieved the admiration, legitimacy and cultural stature Trump desperately craves.
That fixation likely traces back to the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Obama stood at the podium and dismantled Trump’s birther conspiracy theories and humiliated Trump to his face with a few jokes and impeccable comic timing. The room erupted in laughter. Trump sat stone-faced.
Trump continues to define himself against Obama. Obama rarely appears to define himself against Trump.
One is still trying to prove he belongs in the same conversation. The other has shown that it will never happen.
Joseph Williams is head of content for Word In Black.