Deborah Chan
Former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump have had a contentious relationship, with Trump frequently blaming Obama for issues he faced during his presidency. Obama has avoided the limelight since leaving office, but has occasionally criticized Trump without mentioning his name. Obama's official White House portrait, completed in 2018, was not unveiled by Trump during his first term, breaking a 40-year tradition. While Trump refused to hold an unveiling ceremony, reports indicate that Obama also had no interest in participating while Trump was in office. The portrait was eventually unveiled in 2022 by former President Joe Biden and is on display in the White House.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of event | Wednesday, 20 May 2020 |
| Participants | Donald Trump, Barack Obama |
| Nature of event | Unveiling of Barack Obama's portrait at the White House |
| Reason for non-participation | Trump refused to host the event, Obama would also not be interested in attending |
| Underlying issues | Trump and Obama have a contentious relationship, Trump made unfounded accusations against Obama, Trump is jealous of Obama's achievements |
| Previous instances | Obama hosted George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush for their portrait unveiling in 2012 |
| Impact of non-participation | Obama went unacknowledged in the White House, which is otherwise adorned with portraits of every commander-in-chief |
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What You'll Learn
- Trump refused to unveil Obama's portrait at the White House, breaking a 40-year tradition
- Obama and Trump have a contentious relationship, with Trump making baseless accusations against Obama
- Obama has avoided the limelight since leaving office, rarely criticising Trump
- Trump blocked the Obamas' portraits, refusing to host an event honouring his predecessor
- Trump and Obama's relationship hit a new low when Trump accused Obama of committing a crime
Trump refused to unveil Obama's portrait at the White House, breaking a 40-year tradition
Former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump have an extraordinarily contentious relationship, which hit a new low when Trump made unfounded accusations that Obama committed an unspecified crime. This led to Trump refusing to unveil Obama's portrait at the White House, breaking a 40-year tradition.
It has been a White House tradition for decades that a first-term president hosts a ceremony in the East Room for the unveiling of the official portrait of his immediate predecessor. The portrait is then hung in the halls of the White House. This ceremony has been honoured by presidents from both parties. Republican presidents have done it for Democratic presidents and vice versa.
The first formal portrait unveiling took place in 1978 when President Jimmy Carter invited his predecessor, President Gerald Ford, back to the White House for a ceremony in the East Room. Similar ceremonies had occurred in the years before, such as when former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy returned to the White House in 1971 for the unveiling of the portraits of her and her husband, President John F. Kennedy.
Obama himself hosted former President George W. Bush for his portrait unveiling in 2012. Despite their differences, Obama said, "George, you went out of your way to make sure that the transition to a new administration was as seamless as possible." Trump, however, has frequently blamed Obama for various issues he has faced as president, including problems with COVID-19 testing. Obama has generally avoided the limelight since leaving the White House, but in a rare instance of criticism, he appeared to excoriate Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Even if both Trump and Obama were willing to participate in a portrait-unveiling ceremony, the coronavirus pandemic could have placed limitations on it. Family members, staff members, and friends of former presidents tend to attend these events, and large gatherings were not possible during the pandemic.
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Obama and Trump have a contentious relationship, with Trump making baseless accusations against Obama
Trump and Obama have an extraordinarily contentious relationship, with Trump making baseless accusations against Obama. Obama has generally avoided the limelight since leaving the White House, but in the rare instances he has criticised Trump, he has often done so without saying his successor's name. For example, Obama appeared to excoriate Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic but did not explicitly mention him. Obama has also urged Americans to resist Trump's bullying.
Trump, on the other hand, has frequently blamed Obama for various issues he has faced as president, including problems with COVID-19 testing. He has also made unfounded accusations that Obama committed an unspecified crime. Before his transition from reality TV to politics, Trump spent years perpetuating a racist conspiracy theory regarding Obama's place of birth. Trump has also refused to hold a ceremony at the White House for the unveiling of Obama's portrait, breaking a 40-year tradition honoured by presidents from both parties.
Michelle Obama has also been critical of Trump, particularly his immigration policy, which she claimed 'keeps her up at night'. However, she has been slammed as a hypocrite, as her husband deported more than three million illegal immigrants during his presidency. Michelle also did not attend Trump's inauguration, claiming she ''had nothing to wear', which has been criticised as a ridiculous excuse.
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Obama has avoided the limelight since leaving office, rarely criticising Trump
While there is no specific information about Obama and Trump meeting for a photo op on a Wednesday, former President Barack Obama has generally avoided the limelight since leaving office, rarely criticising his successor, Donald Trump. Obama and Trump have had an extraordinarily contentious relationship, with Trump making unfounded accusations against Obama and perpetuating racist conspiracy theories about his place of birth. Despite this rocky past, Obama wrote Trump an Inauguration Day letter in 2017, which Trump described as "beautiful". However, the detente was short-lived, with Trump frequently blaming Obama for various issues, including problems with COVID-19 testing.
In the rare instances that Obama has criticised Trump, he has often done so without mentioning his successor by name. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, Obama appeared to excoriate Trump's response but did not explicitly name him. Obama's comments were widely interpreted as a direct jab at Trump.
Trump broke with a 40-year tradition by refusing to hold a ceremony at the White House for the unveiling of Obama's portrait. This decision was seen as an extension of Trump's hostile disregard for tradition. Obama did not attend such an event, which was instead hosted by President Joe Biden in 2022. This marked only Obama's second visit to the White House since leaving office.
While Obama has largely avoided engaging with Trump directly, there is one instance where both men posted photos of themselves on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, providing an opportunity for a photo op.
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Trump blocked the Obamas' portraits, refusing to host an event honouring his predecessor
Trump and Obama have had an extraordinarily contentious relationship. Trump has frequently blamed Obama for various issues he faced during his presidency, including problems with COVID-19 testing. Obama has generally avoided the limelight since leaving office, but in rare instances of criticism, he has avoided mentioning his successor by name. Trump has made unfounded accusations against Obama, including baseless allegations that Obama committed an unspecified crime.
The decision to block the portraits was likely influenced by Trump's jealousy of Obama's achievements and his hostile disregard for tradition. The Obamas' portraits, created by black artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, were eventually unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, in February 2018. The White House ceremony for the unveiling of the Obamas' portraits finally took place in 2022, hosted by President Joe Biden.
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Trump and Obama's relationship hit a new low when Trump accused Obama of committing a crime
The relationship between Donald Trump and Barack Obama has been described as "extraordinarily contentious", with Trump frequently blaming Obama for various issues he faced during his presidency, including problems with COVID-19 testing. Obama, on the other hand, has generally avoided the limelight since leaving office and rarely criticised Trump, and when he did so, he refrained from mentioning his successor's name.
In May 2020, Trump and Obama's relationship hit a new low when Trump accused Obama of committing a crime. Trump sent a series of tweets over the weekend, lashing out at Obama over the Russia investigation, which began at the FBI in the summer of 2016 and continued under the Trump administration. Trump retweeted a conservative commentator who accused Obama of using his last weeks in office to "target incoming officials and sabotage the new administration". Trump also wrote: "The biggest political crime in American history, by far! OBAMAGATE!"
When asked to name a specific crime, Trump declined to do so, stating: "You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours." He also said: "Obamagate. It’s been going on for a long time. It’s been going on from before I even got elected... Some terrible things happened, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country again."
Trump's accusation came after the Department of Justice dropped charges against his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations with the Russian ambassador. Trump had fired Flynn in early 2017 for lying to Vice-President Mike Pence. Obama, however, had commented that the Flynn decision put "our basic understanding of rule of law at risk".
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Frequently asked questions
Obama and Trump did not meet for a photo opportunity because Trump refused to host a ceremony to unveil Obama's portrait at the White House, breaking a 40-year tradition.
Trump and Obama had a contentious relationship, with Trump making unfounded accusations against his predecessor. Trump was also jealous of Obama's achievements.
Obama generally avoided the limelight after leaving the White House. However, he appeared to criticise Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Yes, the portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama were unveiled at the White House in September 2022. The ceremony was hosted by Joe Biden.
