At this point in the president’s second term, most Americans have become desensitized to the childish and boorish behavior of President Trump. The list of things that he has said that would disqualify literally any other politician from being president is too long to recount here. But, for whatever reason, the president’s supporters are willing to overlook statement after statement, post after post. But excusing the president’s demeaning language creates an ever more toxic political atmosphere here in the United States, to the point where one has to wonder if it’s sustainable.
Last Thursday we got yet another example of the president’s churlish and unacceptable rhetoric. A video he posted on Truth Social claimed once again that the 2020 election was stolen from him. That’s not exactly newsworthy, he is constantly pushing unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about his 2020 loss, but what was noteworthy about this particular video is that it featured Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces on apes. The reference to America’s first Black president and first lady being apes is rooted in long-standing racial tropes and is obviously racist.
If we were living in normal times, members of the president’s own party would openly condemn such an outlandish post. Unfortunately, we are living in an age of cowards who are more concerned with their own political power than standing up for what’s right. There did seem to be enough outrage from those outside of the Republican Party that the president took down the video. But he only took the video down after his spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, called the response to the video “fake.” She told Newsweek that it was simply an “internet meme,” and that people should stop the “fake outrage.”
I would like to take this moment to address the president’s supporters who are reading this. Are you really okay with this? Is this the kind of behavior we should expect from the president of the United States?
In addition to the deeply offensive and racist nature of the video, we should also be concerned that the president can’t let go of 2020. He lost, it’s that simple. Candidates lose elections, it happens. But his fragile ego can’t handle that he was rebuffed by the American people. It is insulting to the great public servants at the local level who run our elections, not out of a desire to gain anything out of doing so, but out of a deeply held civic virtue and love of country, that he continues to question the legitimate outcome of the 2020 election. Despite the numerous investigations that have looked into the election, there have been no outcome-altering instances of fraud found. If there had been something there, we would know about it, the president’s supporters would make sure of it.
If I was a Republican, I would be concerned about the president, who is the leader of the party, focusing on an election from six years ago instead of the upcoming midterms. Midterms are already historically difficult for the party that holds the White House, but if the president continues to relitigate elections that have already happened, it promises to be doubly difficult. Unfortunately, too few Republicans are receiving anything more than cheerleading from right-wing news outlets. They are continuously being gaslit about the outcome of the 2020 election and the “peaceful” protest on January 6 where the president’s supporters rioted at the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election.
You may not believe this, but I mourn the loss of a conservative party in the United States. I think America is at its best when there are two parties competing in the marketplace of ideas. Unfortunately, we no longer have a party that is dedicated to fiscal responsibility (look at the spending in the One Big Beautiful Bill from last summer), limited government (look at the ICE operations in American cities), civil liberties (look at the crackdown on dissent in the media and academic institutions), personal freedom (look at the murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti), or free markets (America now holds 10% stakes in American companies and imposes tariffs at will). Those were the bedrock ideals of the Republican Party that existed when I was growing up. I hope that someday the Republican Party will break free from its current cult of personality and embrace those ideas again.