Obama Condemns Racist Trump Video, Calls Social Media a ‘Clown Show’
Former US president Barack Obama sharply criticised the state of political discourse in the United States on Saturday, responding for the first time to a social media post from Donald Trump that depicted him and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
In a podcast interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama described the video — shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5 — as a symptom of a broader decline in civility. The clip, part of a one-minute video promoting false claims about Trump’s 2020 election loss, showed the Obamas’ faces on monkeys’ bodies for about one second.
“The discourse has devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before…There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” Obama said. “There doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel you had to have some decorum and respect for the office.”
Without naming Trump directly, Obama said the majority of Americans “find this behaviour deeply troubling” and predicted that such messaging could hurt Trump’s Republicans in upcoming midterm elections. “Ultimately, the answer is going to come from the American people,” he added.
Criticism of Immigration Operations
Obama also criticised Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, describing the actions of federal agents — which included two fatal shootings — as reminiscent of practices seen in authoritarian countries and dictatorships.
“The rogue behaviour of agents of the federal government is deeply concerning and dangerous,” he said. Yet he praised communities that pushed back through organised, peaceful protests, saying: “That kind of heroic, sustained behaviour by ordinary people is what should give us hope. As long as we have folks doing that, I feel like we’re going to get through this.”
The aggressive operation in Minnesota sparked nationwide protests and drew scrutiny to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees much of ICE’s work, became a point of contention as Democrats opposed new allocations without major reforms to the agency’s enforcement practices.
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