The president of america posted a racist video Thursday evening depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. On Friday, the White Home dismissed criticism — however the president deleted the publish. Was this episode disappointing? Sure. Stunning? Not anymore.
Final spring, after Pope Francis had died, Donald Trump posted an AI picture of himself because the pope simply days earlier than cardinals convened to elect a successor.
So, no — it’s not stunning that the president would select to publish virulent anti-Black imagery throughout Black Historical past Month.
However it’s disappointing right here in 2026 that an occupant of the Oval Workplace remains to be considering like that.
Again in 1971, the president of america laughed when the governor of California referred to the African delegates on the United Nations as monkeys. Lower than 10 years later, that governor turned the president of america. And right here we’re, half a century later, and one more president has amplified that racist trope.
Which means white supremacy remains to be on the poll.
That Nixon-Reagan-Trump throughline isn’t tightly wound round coverage or precept, however merely that shared worldview. In spite of everything, Nixon created the Environmental Safety Company and Reagan supplied amnesty to immigrants — extremely un-Trump-like strikes. No, their commonality is greatest revealed within the delight every man took in an previous racist assault in opposition to Black folks.
For People who’re 50 and older — roughly a 3rd of the nation — this worldview has been the architect chargeable for White Home coverage for many of our lives. And but, when Kamala Harris misplaced the 2024 election, the forensic investigation centered on grocery costs and her absence from Joe Rogan’s podcast. Some — in making an attempt to elucidate why Harris misplaced — mischaracterized her function on the border or inflated her affect on the conflict in Gaza.
For some purpose, race didn’t appear to obtain the identical stage of scrutiny.
This issue was slighted regardless of many years of knowledge, such because the wave of white nationalists endorsing Harris’ opponent and the birther motion questioning President Obama’s citizenship. The trio of presidents who’re on the report as having fun with depictions of Black folks as monkeys — Nixon, Reagan and Trump — all used racist canine whistles of their mixed 10 presidential campaigns. Their administrations have tended to be extra anti-civil-rights motion than publish-civil-rights motion.
Our nation’s makes an attempt at understanding ourselves are constantly undercut by the denial that for some single-issue voters, race is their single problem. Not the value of bacon or their spiritual convictions. Not Gaza. Simply the promise of getting a secure area for prejudice. And when the president of america entertains racist jokes as Nixon did within the Seventies or shares racist movies as Trump continues to do, undoubtedly there’s a sense among the many citizens that such prejudice has a house within the White Home.
Earlier than Trump used social media to push yesteryear’s ugliness, earlier within the week Harris relaunched her 2024 social media marketing campaign account, calling it a spot the place Gen Z can “meet and revisit with a few of our nice brave leaders, be they elected leaders, neighborhood leaders, civic leaders, religion leaders, younger leaders.” She exhorted: “Keep engaged. I’ll see you on the market.”
Whether or not she plans to run once more in 2028 is unclear. What we do know is she wouldn’t have posted an AI image of herself as the brand new pope whereas Catholics have been mourning Francis (or another time). We all know she wouldn’t have advocated for immigration officers to racially profile Black and brown People or disregard the 14th Modification to detain youngsters. We have no idea what number of of her coverage proposals she would have been capable of get throughout the end line in Congress, however we do know her report of public service to the American folks, in distinction with the present president who’s suing the American folks for $10 billion.
There may be nothing mistaken with revisiting Harris’ missteps on the marketing campaign path or debating her electability as she reemerges within the public highlight. However now that Trump has resorted to posting monkey jokes about Black folks, maybe up to date forensics will contemplate our properly established historical past of racism among the many components within the 2024 election.
It isn’t a shock {that a} president of america thinks poorly of Black folks. Not when you realize that greater than 25% of those that have held the workplace have been themselves enslavers. However it’s disappointing that 250 years into our nation’s story, a few of us nonetheless deny the function that racism performs in shaping our politics and thus all of our lives.
YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
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Concepts expressed within the piece
Trump’s posting of racist imagery depicting the Obamas as apes throughout Black Historical past Month represents a troubling continuation of a historic sample, with Nixon and Reagan equally partaking with racist depictions of Black folks[1][3]. The incident reveals that white supremacy stays embedded in American politics throughout a number of presidential administrations, united not by coverage consistency however by a shared worldview that finds amusement in racist assaults in opposition to Black People[1].
Race has been an under-examined think about current electoral outcomes, with the 2024 presidential election evaluation focusing disproportionately on points like inflation and media appearances whereas overlooking documented proof of racist mobilization, together with white nationalist endorsements and baseless conspiracy theories concentrating on the earlier administration[1]. This omission is especially important given many years of knowledge demonstrating racism’s affect on voting patterns[1].
For some voters, racism capabilities as a single-issue precedence—not financial issues or spiritual convictions, however somewhat the reassurance of getting a politically sanctioned area for racial prejudice[1]. When a sitting president entertains or amplifies racist content material, it alerts to this constituency that their prejudices have legitimacy throughout the highest workplace[1].
Completely different views on the subject
The White Home initially characterised the incident as misrepresented outrage, framing the video as an web meme depicting political figures as characters from “The Lion King” somewhat than specializing in the racist imagery, and urged critics to “report on one thing at this time that really issues to the American public”[1][2]. This framing prompt the controversy represented distraction from substantive governance issues[3].
The White Home later attributed the publish to an inaccurate motion by a workers member somewhat than deliberate presidential conduct, creating distance between the president’s acknowledged intentions and the offensive content material[3]. This rationalization positioned the incident as an aberration in workers administration somewhat than reflective of administrative values[3].
