Charlamagne tha God didn't sound like he was asking permission. The Breakfast Club co-host heard former President Barack Hussein Obama mock President Donald Trump as tougher from a distance than face to face, then pushed the charge back across the table. From Fox News:
"So I just didn't understand what he meant unless he was talking about the kiki they had at the [Jimmy] Carter funeral. But to me, that goes both ways. You kikiing in his face too, 'cause by the way, Trump has been saying wild stuff about you, bro, been saying wild stuff about you and your wife, but you was just right there kikiing with him at the President Carter funeral. So I can say it goes both ways. Don't neither one of y'all be having that energy in each other's face. At least from what we saw," the radio host said.
Kikiing is an informal slang term for relaxing or gossiping.
Charlamagne referred to Obama and Trump speaking to one another at former President Jimmy Carter's funeral, at times smiling and laughing with each other. Former first lady Michelle Obama did not attend.
"So when I heard President Obama say that, I'm like, ‘Well, the same thing can be said for you.’ Don't none of y'all be having that same image. Like we saw President Biden say, 'Welcome home to Donald Trump.' Like, so, it's just like what are y'all? I didn't understand that part. Like that just sounds like something slick to say on the podcast," Charlamagne said.
"It sounds good on a podcast, OK? It goes viral. But when you really take a step back and look at it, don't none of y'all be having that same energy for each other when you see each other. That's what be confusing us because we be like, 'Well, damn. I thought this was the big bad boogeyman telling us this guy's a threat to democracy, which I believe he is, but still,'" he said.
Obama, he argued, has often sounded different depending on the room, the crowd, and the moment. From a host whose platform has shaped political talk among younger black listeners, the jab carried more weight than another cable panel gripe.
Obama has spent years being treated less like a politician and more like a civic mood. To his admirers, he represented calm, cool, firsts, and finish. The new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park leans hard into that story. The center opened a week ago with four floors devoted to the Obama presidency, the 2008 campaign, the Oval Office, and the promise of democracy. Museum tickets are already sold out, with another block scheduled for July 8.
Fox News' Jesse Waters sent a reporter to the Obama Center, which, as we were lectured, was built on stolen land — and I'm not talking about land pulled out from the public at Jackson Park — who asked visitors some difficult questions.
A shrine can draw crowds and still invite questions. Stephen A. Smith, ESPN host and executive producer of First Take and host of Straight Shooter, questioned how Obama and former President Bill Clinton built large fortunes after careers in public office.
Smith's larger point hit a sore nerve: elected leaders should prosper only when Americans are prospering too. Coming from a black broadcaster with his own huge audience, the criticism wasn't easy to wave away as stale right-wing noise. From Fox News:
The sports commentator and host of the "Straight Shooter" podcast weighed in on any profits President Donald Trump is making while serving in the nation’s highest office.
"I don't give a damn what money politicians slide into their own pockets from time to time," Smith said on Wednesday’s episode of his podcast. "If the American people are prospering, get yours. It's a capitalistic society."
Smith went on to cast doubt on how former President Bill Clinton obtained his multi-million dollar net worth.
"I’ll confess something to ya’ll," Smith continued. "Clinton was a lawyer in Arkansas. Grew up poor, relatively broke. How the hell him and the Clinton Foundation is worth hundreds of millions of dollars beat me."
Smith also pointed to former President Barack Obama’s similar high net worth.
"Barack Obama was a community organizer who became the president of the United States and, last time I checked, that salary ain't over $450,000, if I remember correctly," Smith said.
"I got to double check that," he added. "How the hell you depart from office worth over $200 million?"
According to an investigation conducted by Forbes, both Bill and Hillary Clinton have netted approximately $240 million since leaving office in 2021.
Bill Clinton is reportedly responsible for the majority of the couple’s earnings, raking in $189 million by authoring books and $106 million in paid speeches.
Obama owns real history; he won two national elections, became America's first black president, and signed a health law that remade a large part of American life — and not in a good way.
A legacy with weight can still carry vanity, scolding, and blind spots. The growing irritation around Obama isn't about denying his place in history; it's about asking why the man who preached unity so often left half the country feeling accused, condescended to, or dismissed.
🚨 LMAO!! "What has been Obama's greatest accomplishment?"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 26, 2026
Obama library attendees:
"Being black."
"Mm, right now, you know — I can't remember."
"I can't think, you caught me off guard."
"Just being there."
💀💀
HE WAS A FAILURE! pic.twitter.com/zNnCooM5fG
The cracks didn't appear only this week. Obama campaigned for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, including a pointed message to black men who weren't sold on her candidacy. President Trump still won, and AP VoteCast found that he expanded his coalition with gains among younger voters and black and Hispanic men.
Democrats can pretend those voters misunderstood the assignment, but many voters may simply be tired of being assigned a role by a man with an ego larger than the sun.
The left, who said the Obama years represented healing, sold us a bill of goods. Instead, the country got lectures on bitterness, guns, religion, race, police, and resentment. His defenders called it truth-telling, but many of us heard something colder: a gifted person who can read out loud quite well, who explained their very own country back to them with a raised eyebrow.
A man can have grace, talent, and historical importance while still leaving behind a politics that divided more than it inspired.
Obama's halo isn't gone because too many institutions still polish it. The center in Chicago will attract crowds, glowing photos, and reverent tours. Yet the old automatic applause is much weaker.
Charlamagne the God and Stephen A. Smith aren't conservative backbenchers; they speak to audiences Obama once seemed able to reach by instinct. When voices like theirs start asking sharper questions, the problem is no longer Republican criticism.
The concern is that memory is catching up with the myth.
The media spent years protecting Barack Obama’s image while scolding the rest of America for noticing the cracks. PJ Media VIP members help us keep asking the questions the protected class would rather avoid. Use promo code FIGHT for the current discount and join today.
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