Former President Barack Obama sharply criticized the current political climate in the United States, describing it as a “clown show” during an interview released today. In his remarks, Obama suggested that many Americans are disturbed by the tone and rhetoric emerging from the White House during President Trump’s second term.

Obama made the comments while discussing a controversial video that appeared earlier this month on President Trump’s Truth Social account. The video briefly portrayed Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes, drawing widespread criticism.

Despite bipartisan condemnation, Trump has not issued an apology for the post. The White House instead attributed the upload to a staff member who had “erroneously” shared it, and the video was later removed.

“I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” Obama told host Brian Tyler Cohen on his “No Lie” podcast.

Cohen had asked Obama how the country could recover from what he characterized as the “de-evolution of discourse,” referencing both the video and the administration’s description of two U.S. citizens killed during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis as “domestic terrorists.”

In response, Obama argued that while inflammatory rhetoric may attract attention and serve as a “distraction,” most Americans “still believe in decency, courtesy, [and] kindness.”

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening on social media and on television,” he said.

“And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? So that’s been lost,” he continued.

Obama also rejected the idea that Republicans are simply seizing whatever power they desire, asserting instead that the GOP “haven’t actually codified or institutionalized anything” beyond what he referred to as the One Big, Beautiful Bill since taking back control of Congress.

“They have poured a huge amount of money into ICE and their immigration agenda, and they’ve cut taxes for really wealthy people, and now they’re trying to unravel a bunch of rules and norms and laws that are already in place; that’s an easier job,” he said. “I say that because we should accept the responsibility and the challenge that our job is going to be a little bit harder.”

While acknowledging that Democrats have at times hesitated to dismantle institutional barriers that slow legislative progress, Obama warned his party against adopting tactics similar to those of their political opponents.

“I don’t want us to simply duplicate the behavior on the other side. I don’t want us to have a slash and burn strategy where we don’t care about rule of law, we don’t care about some of the guardrails around our democracy. We start lying and having no regard for the truth, the way the other side seems to be comfortable with right now, because if that’s how we fight, then we lose what we’re fighting for,” Obama said.

Addressing frustration among some voters who believe Democrats are not forceful enough in pushing back against Trump, Obama suggested that criticism of his party can sometimes be excessive.

“Sometimes I think we’re tough on Democrats,” he said, before contrasting his own approach in office with that of the current administration.

“When I was President of the United States, I suppose I could have simply unilaterally ordered the military to go into some red state and harass and intimidate a governor there or cut off funding for states that didn’t vote for me, I could have exercised that prerogative, but that is contrary to how I think our democracy is supposed to work, and I think we shouldn’t get discouraged by the fact that we have a tougher job,” he said.

{Matzav.com}