Obama calls Trump-era politics a ‘clown show’, says most Americans find White House rhetoric deeply troubling | World News

According to The Hill, former US President Barack Obama described American politics under the second Trump administration as a “clown show” in an interview and stated that the White House’s recent rhetoric disturbs the majority of Americans.

Obama made the remarks during an appearance on Brian Tyler Cohen’s “No Lies” podcast on Saturday, addressing a controversial video posted on President Trump’s Truth Social account earlier this month. In the clip, Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are briefly depicted as monkeys.

Trump refused to apologize for the post, despite widespread criticism from both parties. The White House attributed the content to an employee’s “erroneous” action and soon removed it.

“I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply disturbing,” Obama told the host, according to The Hill.

Cohen expressed concern about the “distortion of discourse,” referring to the video and the administration’s “domestic terrorists” statement about two U.S. citizens killed during a crackdown on immigrants in Minneapolis.

Obama argued that such language essentially serves as a “distraction” while emphasizing that most citizens “still believe in civility, civility, civility.” [and] kindness.”

“There’s a kind of clown show going on on social media and television,” he said.

“And the truth is, there seems to be no shame in that among people who think you have to have some manners, have some etiquette, and respect the office, right? So that’s lost,” he continued.

The former president rejected the idea that Republicans were merely pursuing their desires, noting that the GOP “hasn’t really regulated or institutionalized anything” other than a Big, Beautiful Bill since taking control of Congress.

“They’ve poured huge amounts of money into ICE and their immigration agenda and lowered taxes for really rich people, and now they’re trying to eliminate a bunch of rules and norms and laws that are already in place, which is an easier job,” he said. “I say this because we have to accept responsibility and that our job is going to be a little harder,” The Hill said. he said.

Obama acknowledged the Democratic Party’s past reluctance to dismantle some institutional barriers but warned against duplicating Republican tactics.

“I don’t want us to simply copy the behavior on the other side. I don’t want us to have a slash-and-burn strategy where we don’t care about the rule of law or the guardrails around our democracy. We start lying and paying no attention to the truth, the other side seems comfortable right now because if we fight like that, we lose what we’re fighting for,” he said.

Expressing voters’ disappointment that Democrats did not push back forcefully enough, Obama advocated a measured approach.

“I think we’re being harsh on Democrats sometimes,” he said.

“When I was President of the United States, I think I could unilaterally order the military to go into a red state and harass and intimidate a governor there, or cut off funding to states that didn’t vote for me, I could use that prerogative, but that goes against the way I think our democracy should work, and I think we shouldn’t be discouraged by the fact that our job is harder,” he said.