Former President Barack Obama unleashed a sharp warning about what he said were eroding political norms in the U.S., after President Trump shared a video that showed Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes. Obama said the tone of American politics had sunk into what he called a degrading "clown show," adding that most Americans still find it "deeply troubling."
His remarks came after Trump earlier this month reposted a meme video on Truth Social that included a clip showing Obama and his wife with their faces superimposed on the bodies of apes. The imagery has long been associated with racist stereotypes and was condemned by the global political spectrum.
Obama Snaps Back
Trump's video prompted the White House to move quickly into damage-control mode. When asked directly about the controversy during an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, Barack Obama avoided naming Trump outright. Instead, he offered a broad but pointed critique of the language, behavior, and tactics he said have come to define modern American politics.
"First of all, I think it's important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling," Obama said.
"It is true that it gets attention. It's true that it's a distraction... you meet people... they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness, and there's this sort of clown show that's happening in social media and on television."
It was Obama's most pointed public response since the video was shared. Critics described the post as among the most racially offensive content ever circulated by a sitting president on social media, underscoring the seriousness of the moment and the reaction it provoked.
The pro-Trump meme largely focused on false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election — allegations that have been repeatedly debunked and challenged in court. But the video took a more inflammatory turn at the end, featuring an AI-style clip that showed the faces of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama superimposed on ape bodies, set to the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
As backlash grew, the White House initially sought to downplay the controversy.
White House's Damage Control
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed off the criticism, characterizing the outrage as performative rather than substantive. "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
A White House official later offered a more sober explanation, saying, "A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down." Trump's post was subsequently deleted.
However, the backlash had already taken hold. Criticism — including sharp condemnation from members of the Republican Party — was already public and firmly on the record, making it difficult for the controversy to simply fade away.
Several Republican senators spoke out forcefully against the post.
Tim Scott of South Carolina called it "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," saying the president should take it down.
Roger Wicker of Mississippi said the video was "totally unacceptable," urging the president to remove it and issue an apology.
And Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said that "any reasonable person sees the racist context," adding that the White House should both delete the post and apologize.
A White House insider had earlier said the clip was shared unintentionally, explaining that it was mistakenly included in a screen recording tied to a separate video about election fraud claims.
