Barack Obama dances with Michelle after condemning Trump’s racist video
Barack Obama has shared a romantic gesture to his wife Michelle after pushing back on a racist video about the couple that was platformed by President Donald Trump.
Less than a day after breaking his silence on the since-deleted video depicting the couple as apes, Barack brought the attention back to his 33-year marriage to his “forever dance partner” with a new Instagram post.
“Celebrated Valentine’s Day with my forever dance partner. Love you, Miche!” the former president, 64, wrote Sunday on Instagram. The picture showed the former first couple dancing cheek-to-cheek in front of a heart-shaped bouquet of roses, with Michelle wearing a strapless black leather dress.
Michelle, 62, shared the same picture Sunday with the caption: “My forever Valentine. Love you, always, Barack!”
The sweet proclamation comes after a White House official told The Independent a staffer “erroneously” made the offensive postshared to Trump’s Truth Social account last week. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially claimed the post was “from an internet meme video” and said to “stop the fake outrage.”
However, Barack was calm, not outraged, when he reacted to the clip during a 47-minute interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” Barack said about the racist video, as well as other shows of “cruelty” online from the Trump administration.
“It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction. But, as I’m traveling around the country, as you’re traveling around the country, you meet people — they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness,” said Barack, who served as President from 2009 to 2017.
“And there’s this sort of clown show happening in social media and on television, 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. So that’s been lost.”
He concluded his answer: “But the reason I point out that I don’t think the majority of the American people approve of this is because, ultimately, the answer is going to come from the American people.”
The White House has not returned The Independent’s request for comment about the video. Trump has refused to apologize for the video, which has sparked backlash from people condemning the message as “racist” and “disgusting.”
