Trump praises late Rev. Jackson as 'good man,' claims he disliked Obama

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Feb 17, 2026

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President Donald Trump paid tribute to the late Rev. Jesse Jackson as a “good man” and “force of nature” but claimed the late civil rights leader “couldn’t stand” former President Barack Obama.

Mixing praise with petty digs, Trump claimed during his days as a New York real estate tycoon he was friends with Jackson, and he ticked off a few shared political priorities like Black economic empowerment zones and funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

“He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts,'” Trump wrote on his social media site. “He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people!”

“Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him,” Trump added.

Trump also asserted that Jackson, who made promising bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, should have gotten more credit for laying the groundwork for Obama’s victory as the first Black president in 2008, and suggested that the two legendary Black political leaders did not get along.

“He had much to do with the election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand,” Trump said.

Jackson, a colleague of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died overnight at 84. No cause was given in a statement from the Jackson family, but he had suffered from a rare neurodegenerative condition.

Tributes poured in for Jackson on Tuesday as the nation woke up to news of his death at home in Chicago.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, called Jackson “the people’s champion” and said he would forever “rest in power.”

“The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. was a legendary voice for the voiceless, powerful civil rights champion and trailblazer extraordinaire,” Jeffries tweeted. “For decades … he inspired us to keep hope alive in the struggle for liberty and justice for all.”

Bernice King, Dr. King’s youngest daughter posted a photo of Jackson with her late father, along with the caption: “Both ancestors.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was born seven years after Jackson’s trailblazing 1984 White House run, praised Jackson as a leader who “never stopped demanding that America live up to its promise.”

“He marched, he ran, he organized and he preached justice without apology,” Mamdani tweeted. “May we honor him not just in words, but in struggle.”