Barack Obama Hits Back at Trump Over Racist Ape Video

Former President Barack Obama broke his silence on President Donald Trump posting a video depicting both him and his wife Michelle Obama as apes, arguing there is a lack of “shame” among the president’s supporters.

Obama joined Brian Tyler Cohen for the Saturday episode of his podcast where the former president dove into a variety of issues, but he first addressed Trump’s controversial video post to social media, which he’s since blamed on an unidentified staffer.

The video, posted to Trump’s Truth Social, depicted a number of politicians as animals, but the beginning depicts the Obamas faces on apes, an image largely condemned as racist. Trump has since defended the post.

“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.’ 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,” he told reporters this week.

Cohen asked Obama about the overall “devolution” of political discourse, mentioning the ape video, administration officials’ rhetoric on ICE raids and shootings, and more.

“Just days ago Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face on an ape’s body, and so again we’ve kind of seen the devolution of the discourse. How do we come back from the place that we have fallen into?” he asked.

Obama stressed that he believes the “majority” of Americans find the video and more troubling. He also called out supporters of the president for what he called a lack of “shame.” Trump’s video, he argued, is a “distraction” and part of a “clown show” playing out on social media and on TV.

The former president said:

First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling. It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction, but 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 happening in social media and on television and what is true is there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sense of decorum and some sense of propriety and respect for the office. So that’s been lost.

Watch above via Brian Tyler Cohen.

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