For the first time, former US President Barack Obama responded on Saturday to a video posted on Donald Trump's social media account depicting him and First Lady Michelle in the form of two monkeys, denouncing the lack of modesty and decency and the "respect for the position" required. The White House later held an employee responsible, who said he had posted a video offensive to the former president and deprived him of it by mistake. Obama also denounced the "dictatorial behavior" of his country's immigration administration.

Published on: 02/15/2026 - 08:31 Last updated: 02/15/2026 - 10:15

Former US President Barack Obama responded on Saturday for the first time to a video posted on Donald Trump's social media account, depicting him and First Lady Michelle in the form of two monkeys, criticizing the lack of modesty and decency in the country's political discourse.

Obama's response to the first post came in an interview with left-wing political podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen published on Saturday. Cohen said, "The speech reached a level of cruelty that we have never seen before. Just days ago, Donald Trump posted a picture of you, your face, on the body of a monkey." He added, "We saw again the decline in the level of discourse. How do we come back after this fall?"

In his response, the former president said that the majority of Americans “find this behavior very disturbing,” without naming Trump by name.

Read also: Trump deletes a racist video depicting Obama and his wife as monkeys, and the White House confirms that it was “published by mistake.”

He added, "There is a kind of farce that is happening on social media and on television, and the truth is that there does not seem to be any shame about this among people who previously felt that you had to show a certain amount of decency, taste and respect for the position, right? That has been lost."

Obama explained that similar posts would harm Trump's Republicans in the midterm elections, noting that "the response will ultimately come from the American people."

The video, which was posted on Trump's account on his Truth Social platform on February 5, sparked condemnation from members of the Republican and Democratic parties alike. While the White House initially rejected the "faux outrage", it later blamed a staffer who it said had spread it by mistake.

At the end of the clip, which promotes conspiracy theories about Trump losing the 2020 elections to Joe Biden, the faces of Obama and his wife, Michelle, appear on the figures of two monkeys for about a second. Trump told reporters that he adheres to the allegations of election fraud mentioned in the video, but he denied that he had watched it.

"Prevalent behavior in dictatorial regimes"

On the other hand, in the same interview, Obama denounced the operations carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota, and compared their behavior to that prevailing "in dictatorial regimes."

For weeks, thousands of federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, carried out raids and arrests in what the Trump administration says were specific missions directed against criminals, until the operation ended this week.

"The deviant behavior of federal government agents is disturbing and dangerous," Obama said. He described the behavior of federal agents, which included two fatal shootings that led to mounting pressure to stop the campaign launched by President Donald Trump, as the kind that "we have seen in the past in authoritarian countries and in dictatorial regimes."

"We will resist and confront"

But he pointed out that there is a glimmer of hope given the community's response to these operations. He said, "Not only in a random way, but in a systematic and organized way. Citizens say, 'This is not the America we believe in.' We will resist and confront with the truth, cameras, and peaceful demonstrations."

He continued, "This kind of heroic and sustained behavior by ordinary people in icy temperatures should give us hope." He stressed, "As long as we have people doing this, I feel that we will succeed in getting through this."

The tough crackdown on immigration in Minnesota led to major protests and anger nationwide.

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security entered a partial shutdown due to a dispute between US representatives over funding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration, which oversees the bulk of Trump's campaign against immigration. Democrats oppose any new funding for the department until changes are made to how ACE conducts its operations.

France 24/AFP

Keywords related to the article

The content you want to browse is no longer in service or is currently unavailable.