STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Former President Barack Obama addressed the racist depiction of him and former First Lady Michelle Obama posted by President Donald Trump in early February.
In an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama said the following: “Well, 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,” Obama said.
“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 and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That’s been lost,” the former president explained.
The racist video posted by Trump in a now-deleted Truth Social upload shows the Obama’s faces superimposed on the bodies of apes.
Trump refused to apologize for the video, claiming that a staffer posted the video after the president watched “the beginning of it [the video].”
The racist depiction of the Obama’s was in the latter portion of the video — but the post was on Trump’s Truth Social for about 12 hours before it was ultimately deleted.
“I didn’t make a mistake,” Trump claimed on Feb. 6.
“I am, by the way, the least racist president you’ve had in a long time,” he added.