Former US president Barack Obama expressed his disapproval of the lack of respect and dignity in the nation’s political conversations, addressing for the first time a post on Donald Trump’s social media platform depicting him and his wife, Michelle, as monkeys. Obama shared his views during an extensive podcast discussion with progressive political analyst Brian Tyler Cohen, where he also drew parallels between the conduct of authorities enforcing the president’s immigration measures in Minnesota and tactics employed by authoritarian regimes.
The video, which appeared on Trump’s Truth Social platform on February 5, triggered condemnation from various political factions in the United States. Initially dismissing the criticism as “fake outrage,” the White House later attributed the post to a staff member’s mistake and removed it.
In a brief segment of the one-minute video, which promoted conspiracy theories about Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election to Joe Biden, the Obamas – the first African American president and first lady in American history – were depicted with simian features for a fleeting moment.
