Former President Barack Obama is breaking his silence regarding a racist video posted by Donald Trump on Truth Social. The now-deleted video depicted Obama and the former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
During an interview with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, the pair discussed how political discourse has gone downhill. Coehn brought up several examples of inflammatory comments by Trump and his cabinet, as well as the recently deleted video. “There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” Obama says.
He added, “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.” The video that Trump shared, which centers on voting machines, advances his claims that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him.
Trump Refuses to Apologize for Offensive Video
Along with the Obamas, other high-profile Democrats featured in the video included Kamala Harris, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and former President Joe Biden, among others. Not long after the post made its rounds on social media, Trump told reporters he would not apologize for sharing the video.
“No, I didn’t make a mistake. I mean…I look at a lot of thousands of things, and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine,” he said. Following his statement, it was revealed by a White House spokesperson that a “staffer erroneously made the post.” Prior to being deleted, several members of the Republican Party spoke out, like Senator Tim Scott, who shared an X post saying, “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.”
A source tells CNN that Trump took issue with the criticism and threatened to come down on anyone who condemned the video. A senior Trump administration official offered a statement to CNN regarding the incident. “The president felt he could’ve handled that matter privately,” speaking about Scott. “He was like, ‘We work together all the time. He didn’t need to comment publicly.’”
