Not even two weeks ago (yikes, what a lifetime ago), Donald Trump was rage-posting for hours on Truth Social, his Nazi social media platform. In the middle of yet another bizarre sh-tposting bonanza, Trump posted an AI clip with Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces poorly inserted onto the bodies of monkeys. There was a loud, immediate backlash against Trump for this overtly racist thing, so much so that it became a whole 48-hour newscycle as Trump and his people backtracked, lied about who posted what, lied about whether it was racist, and then finally deleted the clip. Trump never apologized, although he did admit to posting it (a small victory that the “he didn’t really post it” lie didn’t stand).
During that whole episode, the Obamas stayed silent. Which is their right – they don’t have to comment every time that ugly orange man says or does something racist, nor are they required to respond when Trump reveals his years-long obsession with President Obama in particular. Well, Pres. Obama appeared on Brian Tyler Cohen’s YouTube show, and Cohen’s first question was about that racist clip and Trump’s degradation of the office and the national discourse. Here’s the full video:
Obama gave a lengthy answer, bringing it around to how Minnesotans fought back against the violent and deadly occupation of Minneapolis by the Trump administration. Obama did call this whole thing a clownshow though. He said, in part: “First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that a majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling. It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction. But as I’m traveling around the country, as you’re traveling around the country, you meet people, they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness…. And there’s this sort of clownshow that’s happening in social media and on television, and 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. So, that’s been lost.”
Imagine anyone talking about decorum in the post-Trump era, which will happen eventually, even if this moment feels interminable. Like, it’s just one of the many things which no one can ever talk about in the future. But yeah, Obama handled this the right way and I love that he didn’t even say that man’s name.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, screencaps courtesy of YouTube.
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- Former US President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at the United Center Featuring: Former US President Barack Obama Where: Chicago, Illinois, United States When: 20 Aug 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Former US President Barack Obama exits the stage after delivering remarks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at the United Center Featuring: Former US President Barack Obama Where: Chicago, Illinois, United States When: 20 Aug 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Former President Barack Obama And Rapper Eminem Attend Kamala Harris Rally Featuring: Barack Obama Where: Detroit, Michigan, United States When: 22 Oct 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
🍊 is jealous of the fact that no matter where Obama goes he gets applause and cheers. He’s in a loving marriage and his kids love him. He doesn’t have that. He is getting booed everywhere he goes. He wants so desperately to be him but he knows he isn’t which is why he is so obsessed with him. He wants that adoration and surrounds himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear. Obama doesn’t have to do that.He could put his name on a hundred buildings and it wouldn’t matter.
This truth applies generally to most racists and their fixations with Black people. Joshua Doss (of Doss Discourse) has a clip where he breaks down studies that explain white folks’ simultaneous obsession with and also inability to see Black people.
Trump’s addled brain can’t handle the dichotomy of bring obsessed with Obama and wanting what Obama has (respect, love, the effing Nobel Prize), and yet…Obama is a black man and Trump is a bone deep racist. He can’t take it! How can it be that a black man could be internationally loved and respected, while he gets booed? Some day all that jealousy and hatred are going to explode in him like an aneurysm. Can’t wait!
There’s a danger in thinking of this administration as a clown show. It’s deadly serious.
It certainly is a very dangerous time with the current administration nothing funny about any of it, I actually find it very terrifying.
I think clown show is the perfect way to describe this regime. A whole bunch of incompetent people running the show and the only reason why they got their jobs was because they are sycophants to the felon.
N@zis hate being made fun of so this gets under their skin more than seeing people hurt. The Epstein files and Sascha Riley have both demonstrated that the felon is a sadist. Seeing people suffer gets him off. Poking fun of their incompetency is the best way to defeat fascism.
Yes, as long as we understand the real gravity of the situation. Our problem is that most people are looking for a reason to not act.
Clown is actually what Hitler was called in Germany during the entire 1920s, the brown shirts were seen as crude street thugs and everyone laughed so hard at him, the clowns who were too stupid to even successfully attempt a coup and ended up in prison instead. Then in 1933, he suddenly sat up a dictatorship and no one laughed again for a very long time.
I appreciate President Obama in every way and feel sure he knows how bad and serious and dangerous they are…but half the country doesn’t want his opinion and it would just start more memes and racism and crazed posts. Even these mellow comments are likely to set off the insane poompah…
But I do get tired of the jokes about this admin…even though they are a clown show..it does tend to mask the deadliness or make light of it.,.people forget too easily as it is…we have the collective memory retention of a sieve…
I don’t want to hear NAN NOTHA 😠 Democrat say the following about the current f——t 🇺🇸 government at THIS point…
– Deeply troubled
– Troubled
– Troubling
– Gaslighting
– Unserious
– Clowns
We’re WAY past the point for the vague terms above…in fact…those terms should’ve NEVA been introduced into the lexicon concerning the modern Republican Party…
It’s as Folks know NOTHING about history or the parallels our country is taking that mirrors what happened in Germany BEFORE WWII!💔🇺🇸💔
You always just cut straight the BS and 🔨 it. I kinda hope you have a Substack column IRL.
People on social media demanding statements and action from prominent Democrats, especially Black Democrats, get on my last nerve. They all warned you before November 5, 2024 (surely a date which will live in infamy, if any date does), yet people went out and voted for all the horror, or voted for Russian asset Jill Stein, or couldn’t be bothered to vote at all. No one demands anything of prominent Republicans like the current office holders or former presidents like George W. Bush who helped normalize all the fascism. I guess they just want people like Obama repeating what they said prior to the election on an endless loop although it gets us nowhere. It makes the keyboard warriors feel like they are actually doing something by demanding free labor from others even as they continue to be just useless trolls.
Yep. This man told you as serious as possible from August to November of last year that this wasn’t a joke. I remember all of the Obama’s breaking the rules by criticizing the former president so strongly, the rallies where they were surprised that he was visibly showing anger and frustration, Obama’s patronizing black men by asking what they hell they are thinking considering voting for Trump, and these people still sat on their asses.
He does not have a responsibility to save us. Celebrities do not have a responsibility to save us. The problem is is people did not take it seriously, and they expect all the heavy lifting to come from outside sources rather than internalizing that regular people they know aren’t engaged and that’s where the problem lies.
They define leadership as people who rescue them from messes of their own making. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
People who made this mess don’t think they need to be rescued, and if they do, they don’t look to Obama for it.
People who are looking to Obama did not make this mess. If he can’t find it in his heart to speak up on their behalf from the comfort of his wealth, he is part of the problem, not part of the solution. And miss me with “security concerns”. Epstein survivors choose to take those risks, but he can’t?
@hellolucky he is speaking up. Right here in this interview that is being excerpted. He did speak up when he campaigned all fall of 2024. He did speak up when he endorsed candidates last fall and campaigned for them like for Abigail Spanberger.
But if he didn’t want to say anything, I’m not going to begrudge him. He served both his terms, and has campaigned tirelessly for multiple candidates for the 10 years he’s been out of office. At the end of the day as you pointed out he is comfortable in his wealth, he could pick up sticks and live elsewhere probably pretty easily. I can’t, which is why I’m not relying on him to do anything for me. Because it’s not his responsibility to carry the weight of the world on his back for the rest of his life because he was in office at one point in time.
@HelloChucky: there absolutely are people on the left who expect various Democrats to rescue them from the messes they make by not voting or suppressing the vote by badmouthing the candidates. On social media they’re known as the “do something” brigade because they’re constantly nagging leaders on the left to “do something” as MAGA runs amok. Voting and not voting has consequences and no one is coming to save us.
Ok, I also warned people, they didn’t listen, so now I will sit this one out, I guess.
The Obamas served this country for 8 years. They don’t owe us a damned thing.
Still, I’m glad the former president was asked about this — and he handled it with his usual skill and savvy. Not mentioning Trump’s name will drive Mango Mussolini crazy (crazier).
You can always trust President Obama to handle everything with class.