Barack Obama unleashed a blistering warning about America’s collapsing political standards after President Donald Trump shared a video depicting him and Michelle Obama as apes.
Obama said that American political discourse had descended into a degrading ‘clown show’ that most Americans still find ‘deeply troubling.’
The former president’s remarks came after Trump earlier this month reposted a meme video on Truth Social that included a segment showing the Obamas’ faces superimposed on ape bodies.
Such imagery has long held racist overtones and sparked bipartisan condemnation, forcing the White House into damage control.
Asked directly about the episode during an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama did not mention Trump by name in his response, but delivered a sweeping rebuke of the tone and tactics that now dominate modern politics.
‘First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,’ Obama said.
‘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.’
His intervention marked his most direct public comments since Trump shared the incendiary video, which some critics described as one of the most racially offensive social media posts shared by the president.
Barack Obama warned that political discourse has devolved into a ‘clown show’ after Donald Trump shared a video depicting the Obamas as apes
Trump said he ‘didn’t watch the whole video’ before reposting it online and has refused to apologize
The pro-Trump meme video centered on 2020 election fraud conspiracy claims – allegations that have been repeatedly debunked and litigated.
But the clip ended with an AI-style segment that flashed the Obamas’ faces superimposed on ape bodies, set to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
The White House initially tried to wave the uproar away.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the outrage as performative.
‘This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.’
A White House official later gave a more serious explanation stating, ‘A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.’
Trump’s post was later deleted.
But the condemnation, including from Republicans, was already on the record.
The President received widespread backlash over accusations of racism after he posted a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are seen walking across the South Lawn in July 2016
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina called it ‘the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,’ adding that the president should remove it.
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi wrote: ‘This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize.’
Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska argued that ‘a reasonable person sees the racist context,’ and said the White House should remove it and apologize.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office blasted the post as well: ‘Disgusting behavior by the President. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.’
A White House insider previously told the Daily Mail that the clip was posted by mistake and was accidentally included in a screen recording of a different video about election fraud.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially doubled down on the President’s post
Senator Tim Scott called the video ‘the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House’
‘It’s an obvious screen recording and the boomer who posted it on X didn’t trim off the excess when the next reel started to auto play,’ the Trump official shared.
‘The aide didn’t notice that one second portion at the end of the video and it was never seen by the president.’
Trump told reporters that he didn’t watch the whole video before it was shared online and maintained that he didn’t do anything wrong.
‘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 said.