Washington: Former US president Barack Obama has addressed for the first time a racist video of him and Michelle Obama posted on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, saying most Americans found the current level of political discourse “deeply troubling”.
The February 6 post, which briefly included a depiction of Obama – the country’s first black president – and his wife as apes, was deleted after a furious backlash, including from Republicans.
During a recent appearance on Democratic influencer Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, Obama was asked to comment on the “level of cruelty” in public discourse. Cohen noted White House officials’ description of two people shot by immigration agents in Minneapolis as “domestic terrorists”, as well as the post on Trump’s account.
“Just days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face on an ape’s body – and so again, we’ve … seen the devolution of the discourse,” Cohen said in the 47-minute interview that aired on Saturday. “How do we come back from the place that we have fallen into?”
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling,” Obama responded.
“You know, it is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction. But, you know, as I’m travelling around the country, as you’re travelling around the country, you meet people. They still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness.”
Obama didn’t mention Trump by name or directly reference the post, but lamented that “a sense of propriety and respect for the office … that’s been lost”.
“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, 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,” he said.
But Obama said ultimately the answer would come from the American people, pointing to the “extraordinary” community spirit shown by ordinary people during the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge in Minneapolis.
“… At the end of the day, the way we get a democracy that’s working and the way we get policies that actually are helping working families get ahead, the way that we restore norms, rule of law, decency, it’s going to be because we, citizens, are activated and paying attention and saying ‘enough’,” he said.
Trump’s Truth Social account regularly re-posts memes, videos and other content from the US’ large ecosystem of conservative and conspiratorial fringe media outlets.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the February 6 post, describing it as an “internet meme” and urging reporters to “report on something today that actually matters to the American public”.
However, backlash from across the political spectrum followed, and the video was removed after being online for nearly 12 hours.
Republican senator from South Carolina Tim Scott – the only black Republican senator – called the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”.
After its removal, the White House said the post, which began with a video about alleged voter fraud, had been shared “erroneously” by an unnamed staff member.
Hours later, Trump appeared to contradict that explanation, saying he “didn’t make a mistake” and had instead passed the video along for an aide to post.
“I liked the beginning. I saw it and just passed it on, and I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it,” Trump said.
An Obama spokeswoman at the time said the former president had no response when asked about the video.
Stuff.co.nz and staff reporter
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