Former President Barack Obama issues a sharp critique of America’s deteriorating political standards following President Donald Trump’s repost of a video superimposing his and Michelle Obama’s faces on ape bodies.
Obama Addresses Degrading Discourse
Obama describes the current political environment as a ‘clown show’ that troubles most Americans. In an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, he emphasizes that while such tactics grab attention and distract, the public values decency, courtesy, and kindness.
‘First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,’ Obama states. ‘It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction… you meet people… they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness, and there’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television.’
Details of the Controversial Video
The pro-Trump meme video, shared on Truth Social earlier this month, promotes debunked 2020 election fraud claims. It concludes with an AI-generated segment flashing the Obamas’ faces on ape bodies, accompanied by ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight.’ Such imagery carries longstanding racist connotations, drawing widespread bipartisan backlash.
White House Response and Trump’s Defense
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially downplays the uproar, calling it a meme portraying Trump as the ‘King of the Jungle’ and Democrats as Lion King characters. She urges focus on issues mattering to the public.
A White House official later attributes the post to a staffer’s error in a screen recording, noting it was deleted after the mistake surfaced. The official explains it as an untrimmed segment from an auto-playing reel about election fraud, unseen by the president.
Trump tells reporters he did not watch the full video before reposting, defending it as a strong message on fraudulent elections. ‘What I saw in the beginning was really strong. It was about fraudulent elections. Anytime I see that stuff and it’s credible, you put it up. I didn’t do it. This was done by someone else. It was a re-truth but that was a very strong truth,’ he says.
Bipartisan Condemnation
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) labels it ‘the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House’ and demands its removal. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) deems it ‘totally unacceptable,’ calling for an apology. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) notes a ‘reasonable person sees the racist context’ and urges deletion and remorse.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office condemns the post as ‘disgusting behavior’ and presses Republicans to denounce it immediately.
