US3 min(s) read
What Barack Hussein Obama actually means - and why Trump calls him that
You’ve probably noticed that Donald Trump has a specific way of referring to fellow President Barack Obama, but do you know why, and what it means?
Well, it’s not quite the insulting and demeaning moniker that perhaps Trump thinks it is.
Donald Trump turned on Barack Obama years ago
President Donald Trump is no stranger to a dig at his predecessors.
He’s had words for Bill Clinton - and some even stranger rumors about his nickname - and famously loves to deride ex-President Joe Biden or ‘Sleepy Joe’.
However, one nickname - although it is his real name - has attracted quite a bit of attention over the years, and it pertains to Biden’s running mate Obama.
If you’ve ever heard Donald Trump or his staff - Karoline Leavitt particularly - refer to Obama as ‘Barack Hussein Obama’, here’s the reason.
Barack Hussein Obama - and why Trump calls him that
Well, for one thing, it is his name.
Barack Obama’s full name is Barack Hussein Obama II.
But that’s not why he calls him that, otherwise he’d be calling Joe Biden ‘Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.’ or Bill Clinton ‘William Jefferson Clinton’.
The reason behind it comes from Trump’s involvement in a weird ‘birther’ conspiracy several years back.
It’s all part of a wider plan to make Obama seem un-American in some way, particularly relating to baseless claims that he is a Muslim who was born in Kenya.
He is actually a Christian born in Hawaii, which is - of course - in the United States of America.
You see, non-American citizens can’t be President, so if Obama was really from Kenya, he couldn’t have been commander-in-chief.
Obama was born to an American mother and a Kenyan father, from whom he gets his name.
But, the conspiracy persisted, and Trump was one of the main drivers.
What does the name actually mean?
While Trump might use the ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ as a stick to beat the ex-Pres with, it’s actually quite a compliment.
As one person helpfully broke down on X: “In his mind, Trump believes that when he says Obama's full name, Barack Hussein Obama, that people will look down on him.
“He believes that when people hear the name ‘Hussein’ that Americans will reel back and treat him like hes a far away foreigner.
“He believes that saying his name that is of Arabic and Kenyan origin that people will picture him with a beard, a headscarf and an AK like a terrorist.
“He does this on purpose.
“What Trump will never understand, is that Hussein in [Arabic] means ‘handsome,’ ‘beautiful,’ or "good’
“His first name Barack means ‘One Who Is Blessed’.
“Obamas name in which Trump uses to demean him,
Barack Hussein Obama II means ‘One Who Is Blessed, Good, Handsome, Beautiful, Son Of Obama’
“Obamas name honours him in every sense of the word.”
So, there you have it - quite different from the intention that Trump has behind his longstanding way of addressing Obama.