Politics
Barack Obama Addresses President Donald Trump’s Video Depicting Him and Wife Michelle as Apes
Barack Obama is opening up about President Donald Trump‘s racist actions towards his family.
In a Monday, May 4, interview in The New Yorker, the former president, 64, addressed Trump’s Truth Social post in February that included an AI-generated video with the faces of Barack and Michelle Obama, 62, placed on the bodies of apes.
The 79-year-old’s post has since been taken down after he received fierce backlash, though at the time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the pushback as “fake outrage.”
“I don’t take it personally,” Barack explained. “I mean, I’m always offended when my wife and kids get dragged into things, because they didn’t choose this. . . . That’s a line that even people whose politics I deeply reject, I would expect them to care about.”
Barack — who shares daughters Malia, 27, and Sasha, 24, with the Becoming author — added, “I would never talk about somebody’s family in that way.”
Instead, the former president said he is more concerned that Trump has posted AI-generated videos that appear to treat war “like a video game” and show “excrement dumped on ordinary citizens.”
“I mean, I’m a fair target in the sense of, yeah, you can feel free to pick on me, because I’m your own size,” Barack said.
The father of two also told the publication that he is “dismayed” by Congress’ obedience to the Apprentice alum.
As the National Enquirer previously reported, that hasn’t stopped him from campaigning against Trump and the current administration, even if that sometimes comes at a cost.
According to Barack, “[Michelle] wants to see her husband easing up and spending more time with her, enjoying what remains of our lives.”
“It does create a genuine tension in our household, and it frustrates her,” he admitted. “I’m more forgiving of it, in the sense that I understand why people feel that way, because people aren’t looking at me in historical comparison to other Presidents. They don’t care about the fact that no other ex-President was the main surrogate for the Party for four election cycles after they left office.”
