‘Clown show’: Obama reacts to Trump sharing racist monkey video

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Briefing Summary

AI-generated

NEWSAR · AI

In February 2026, Barack Obama publicly addressed a video shared on Donald Trump's Truth Social account depicting him and Michelle Obama as monkeys. The video, posted on February 5th, drew widespread condemnation, although the White House initially defended it before attributing it to staff error and removing it. During a podcast interview, Obama deplored the decline in political discourse, lamenting the loss of decorum and respect for the office of president. While not naming Trump directly, Obama stated that a majority of Americans find such behavior deeply troubling. He suggested that this type of conduct would negatively impact the Republican party in upcoming midterm elections. The video, lasting one minute, promoted conspiracy theories about Trump's 2020 election loss.

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Article analysis

Model · rule-based

Framing

Political Strategy

Human Rights

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0.70 / 1.00

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Key claims

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The White House initially rejected “fake outrage” over the video.

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The video was shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5.

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Donald Trump's social media account depicted him and his wife Michelle as monkeys.

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Obama said a majority of Americans “find this behaviour deeply troubling”.

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Obama said the behavior will hurt the Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

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Full report

2 min read · 343 words

Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama says a majority of Americans ‘find this behaviour deeply troubling’.Published On 15 Feb 2026Speaking publicly for the first time after United States President Donald Trump’s social media account depicted him and his wife Michelle as monkeys, former President Barack Obama has deplored the degradation of the country’s political discourse to a “clown show”.“[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,” Obama said in a wide-ranging podcast interview with left-wing political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen on Saturday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Republicans condemn racist Trump video post depicting Obamas as apeslist 2 of 4New White House plaques attack Biden, Obama and Bushlist 3 of 4Trump won’t apologise despite backlash over video depicting Obamas as apeslist 4 of 4Can Barack Obama be prosecuted over ‘Russian interference’ intelligence?end of listThe video, shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5, prompted censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting “fake outrage” only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member and then taking it down.Near the end of the one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas – the first Black president and first lady in US history – were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second.“The discourse has devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before … Just days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face on an ape’s body,” Cohen said in the interview.“And so again, we’ve seen the devolution of the discourse. How do we come back from a place that we have fallen into?” he added.Without mentioning Trump’s name, Obama said a majority of Americans “find this behaviour deeply troubling”, adding that it will hurt the Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

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