Shame has been lost, Obama says after Trump-linked racist video sparks outrage

Former US President Barack Obama has issued a stinging rebuke of America’s political culture, lamenting the loss of “shame” and basic decorum after a racist video targeting him and former First Lady Michelle Obama was shared from the social media account of President Donald Trump.

The now-deleted video, posted on Trump’s platform Truth Social, featured a clip depicting the Obamas as apes — an image widely condemned as racist. The clip appeared at the end of a longer video recycling unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and was set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Reports indicated the footage originated from content previously circulated by a conservative meme creator.

The post drew swift criticism from Democrats and several Republicans. The White House later said the video had been shared by a staff member and subsequently removed.

Trump told reporters he “didn’t see” the segment showing the Obamas and dismissed calls for an apology, saying, “I didn’t make a mistake.”

Obama, speaking during a 47-minute interview with liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, did not mention Trump by name. Instead, he delivered a broader indictment of the state of American political discourse.

“It’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling,” Obama said. “It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction.”

In measured but unmistakably pointed remarks, he warned that public debate in the United States has descended into what he described as unprecedented cruelty.

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

The interview ranged beyond the controversy, touching on immigration protests, electoral boundaries and plans for Obama’s presidential library in Chicago. But it was his comments on the erosion of civility — delivered without naming his successor — that resonated most forcefully, underscoring the widening fracture in America’s political culture.