HIBAPRESS
Former U.S. President Barack Obama criticized what he described as a decline in standards of modesty and decency in political discourse in the United States, in his first comment on Saturday evening on a post circulating on Donald Trump's social media account, which included a picture of him and former First Lady Michelle Obama in a way that many considered racist, as they were depicted as two monkeys.
The video was posted on February 5th on the "Truth Social" platform and sparked a wave of condemnation from figures in both the Republican and Democratic parties. While the White House initially downplayed the criticism, considering it "manufactured anger," it later attributed the posting of the clip to an employee who said he put it up by mistake. The video, which promotes claims of fraud in the 2020 elections that Trump lost to Joe Biden, includes a short clip showing Obama and his wife's faces superimposed on two monkey figures for a few seconds. Obama's response came during an interview with political podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, which was published on Saturday, where he considered that the majority of Americans "are very concerned about this type of behavior," without mentioning Trump by name. He added that what is happening on social media and television reflects a state of "vulgarity," pointing to the absence of a sense of responsibility and respect that was supposed to be shown towards public office. Obama believed that such posts may have political repercussions, especially on Republicans affiliated with Trump in the midterm elections, stressing that "the final word will remain with the American people." For his part, Trump told reporters that he still adheres to the claims of electoral fraud that the video addresses, while denying that he watched it in full before posting it. In another context of the same interview, Obama criticized the raids and arrests carried out by the elements of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state of Minnesota, comparing some practices to what happens in "dictatorial systems." He pointed out that the behavior of some federal agents, including two fatal shootings, raises concerns and calls for accountability, especially in light of the escalating controversy over the campaign launched by the Trump administration.
