Obama deplores ‘lack of shame’ after Trump’s racist monkey clip

Former US president Barack Obama has sharply criticized what he described as a decline in civility and standards within America’s political discourse, responding publicly for the first time to a controversial social media post shared on Donald Trump’s account that depicted him and former first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.

The video, briefly posted on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5, triggered widespread backlash across the US political spectrum. While the White House initially dismissed criticism as “fake outrage,” officials later attributed the post to a staff error and removed it.

In the one-minute video, which largely promoted conspiracy theories about Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas — the first Black president and first lady in US history — appeared for about a second with their faces superimposed on the bodies of monkeys.

Obama addressed the incident for the first time during an interview with political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen released on Saturday. Without directly naming Trump, Obama said most Americans would view such behaviour as “deeply troubling.”

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” Obama said, lamenting what he portrayed as a loss of shame, decorum, and respect in public life.

He argued that political discourse has “devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before,” adding that earlier norms of propriety and respect for public office appear to have eroded.

Obama also suggested that such messaging could ultimately damage Republicans politically, predicting that voters would deliver their verdict in upcoming midterm elections.

“Ultimately, the answer is going to come from the American people,” he said.

Trump has previously told reporters he supported the broader claims made in the video regarding election fraud, but stated that he had not seen the offensive clip involving the Obamas.