Former President Barack Obama broke his silence on President Donald Trump posting a video depicting both him and his wife Michelle Obama as apes, arguing there is a lack of “shame” among the president’s supporters.
Obama joined Brian Tyler Cohen for the Saturday episode of his podcast where the former president dove into a variety of issues, but he first addressed Trump’s controversial video post to social media, which he’s since blamed on an unidentified staffer.
The video, posted to Trump’s Truth Social, depicted a number of politicians as animals, but the beginning depicts the Obamas faces on apes, an image largely condemned as racist. Trump has since defended the post.
“That was a video on, as you know, voter fraud, and a fairly long video, and they had a little piece that had to do with ‘The Lion King.’ It’s been very well—it’s been shown all over the place, long before that was posted. But that was a very strong, and I’m sure you saw it, very strong piece on voter fraud. And the piece that you’re talking about was all over the place many times, I believe for years,” he told reporters this week.
Cohen asked Obama about the overall “devolution” of political discourse, mentioning the ape video, administration officials’ rhetoric on ICE raids and shootings, and more.
