Former President Barack Obama has spoken out against a video that was shared on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account. The video showed him and Michelle Obama as animated apes. Obama called it part of a larger “clown show” in politics that lacks shame and decorum.
The 62-second video, which was posted late at night and taken down the next morning, showed the Obamas’ faces on top of apes dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” along with false claims of election fraud in 2020 linked to Dominion Voting Systems. A White House official blamed a staff member for the “wrong” post, first calling the backlash “fake outrage” and then taking it down after about 12 hours.
Obama didn’t name Trump directly in a recent podcast with Brian Tyler Cohen, but he did say that public discourse has gotten worse and that “there’s no shame among those who once felt the need to uphold some level of decorum and respect for the office.” He stressed that most Americans still value kindness and decency and said that the public would eventually reject such behavior.
Trump said he “didn’t see” the Obama part and wouldn’t apologize, saying “I didn’t make a mistake.” He also wouldn’t punish the staff member. Senator Tim Scott called the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” and other people called it “vile” and “totally unacceptable.”
