Obama Condemns ‘Loss of Shame’ After Offensive Video Shared on Trump Account

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Former US president Barack Obama on Saturday denounced what he described as a decline in decorum and public standards in American political discourse, responding publicly for the first time to an offensive video shared on the social media account of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a wide-ranging podcast interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama addressed a clip posted on Trump’s platform, Truth Social, that briefly depicted him and former first lady Michelle Obama with their faces superimposed on monkeys’ bodies.

The video, shared on February 5, appeared at the end of a one-minute segment promoting unfounded conspiracy theories about Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. The imagery drew sharp criticism from Democratic and Republican figures alike, with many commentators describing it as racist and inappropriate.

The White House initially dismissed the backlash as “fake outrage” before later attributing the clip to a staff error and removing it.

“The discourse has devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before,” Cohen said during the interview, referencing the video and asking how the country could recover from what he described as a deterioration in standards.

Without directly naming Trump, Obama said most Americans “find this behavior deeply troubling.”

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” Obama said. “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. That’s been lost.”

He predicted that inflammatory political messaging would ultimately have electoral consequences, suggesting that voters would make their judgment in the upcoming midterm elections.

The controversy highlights deepening polarization in US politics, as debates over race, immigration, and executive authority continue to shape the national landscape.

The episode unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying political polarization in the United States since the contentious 2020 presidential election, when President Donald Trump repeatedly rejected the results that brought Joe Biden to the White House — claims that courts and election officials dismissed. 

Barack Obama, who has largely refrained from direct engagement in day-to-day political disputes since leaving office, has in recent years warned about democratic backsliding, disinformation, and the erosion of institutional norms.

The renewed public clash between the two men underscores the enduring rivalry between figures who represent sharply divergent political visions, while reflecting broader anxieties over the tone of public discourse, the role of social media platforms in amplifying provocative content, and the resilience of democratic institutions ahead of another high-stakes election cycle.