In a recent podcast with Brian Taylor Cohen, Barack Obama addressed the racist video shared on Donald Trump’s Truth Social account showing him and Michelle Obama as dancing apes.
The clip was part of a longer voter fraud video and was removed about 12 hours later, but not before drawing widespread attention.
“What is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum,” Obama said.
He emphasized that most Americans are unsettled by the stunt. “It is important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” he added.
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Obama painted a picture of the political climate under Trump as chaotic and corrosive. “It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction. But, you know, as I’m traveling around the country, as you’re traveling around the country, 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.”
He highlighted the loss of basic respect in political discourse. “And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum. And a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? So that’s been lost.”
Still, Obama said he sees hope in the response of ordinary citizens. “The reason I point out that I don’t think the majority of the American people approve of this is because ultimately, the answer is going to come from the American people. And we just saw this in Minnesota and Minneapolis.”
He praised Americans standing up to injustice. “The ‘unprecedented nature of what ICE was doing in Minneapolis [and] St. Paul’ has resulted in ‘the extraordinary outpouring of organizing, community building, decency, neighbors, buying groceries for folks, accompanying children to school, teachers who were standing up for their kids.’”
For Obama, this kind of organized citizen action proves that decency still matters. “Not just randomly, but in a systematic, organized way, citizens saying, ‘This is not the America we believe in, and we’re going to fight back, and we’re going to push back with the truth, and with cameras, and with peaceful protests,’ and shining a light on the sort of behavior that, you know, in the past we’ve seen in authoritarian countries and we’ve seen in dictatorships, but we have not seen in America.”
Trump, in contrast, refused to take responsibility. “That was a video on, as you know, voter fraud, and a fairly long video, and they had a little piece that had to do with ‘The Lion King,’” he told reporters.
He claimed it was harmless. “It’s been very well—it’s been shown all over the place, long before that was posted. But that was a very strong, and I’m sure you saw it, very strong piece on voter fraud. And the piece that you’re talking about was all over the place many times, I believe for years.”
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
