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Chapter 1: What is the context of Donald Trump's racist Truth Social post?
good morning everybody welcome to the don lemon show hot topics on uh this friday morning wow um sometimes you just things just floor you i thought that after what happened to me last week like you know i mean i think they're on i don't even know if they're comparable but um I don't even know what to say because I have been saying that this president is racist for so long.
And I think before anybody on television would say it, getting called a race baiter and people telling me I was too sensitive or that he was, he said things that were racist adjacent or that he was bordering and he's just a plain out fucking racist. So let me say this just plainly. Okay. Cause I'm talking about this video, this video. And you just put the first image of it up, Andy.
This video should terrify anyone who really takes the United States seriously. So yes, what you're looking at, there you go. It's not just a meme. It's not just Trump being Trump. It is a sitting American president posting an AI video depicting the former president and former first lady, Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys. And this isn't funny. It's not comedy. This is not politics.
It's racist, deranged filth.
sewage below the gutter the oldest insult in the book dressed up as an ai generated and dressed up in ai generated pixels and then pipe straight through the most powerful office on earth which is the president of the united states and the most dangerous part is not even the racism though i mean god knows that that's disgusting enough the most dangerous part is that what it reveals about
The absolute collapse of seriousness, dignity, although I don't know where that has been for the last 10 years. It is the sort of casual demolition of dignity of the presidency for a cheap laugh from the worst people on the internet. Now, here is the thing. I don't think this is just for a cheap laugh. I think this is a distraction.
So Lord knows what is coming out today or soon or what he is covering up from the Epstein files or whatever that would get him to do something like this. Imagine if any other president had done that. It would be emergency meetings. There would be resignations. There would be consequences. Because
If it happened to any other country or even in this country, because right minded people, other nations as well, understand something that we have apparently forgotten, that the head of state is not an influencer. The presidency is not a personal content account. But here in America, we are told to just shrug, to just roll our eyes and move on.
And I'm going to tell you what the White House is saying in just a minute to treat this just like another day in a circus. This is a statement released to the media from the White House press secretary. This is from an internet meme video. That's what she says. Do we have her? Caroline Levitt's quote.
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Chapter 2: How does Don Lemon describe Trump's actions regarding racism?
Fuck off, Caroline Levitt. And for what it's worth, there are no gorillas in the Lion King. That's what she said. And look, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt's statement on President Donald Trump posting a video depicting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as monkeys.
This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public. These people, we have not heard from the Obamas yet, but I want to bring in some people who are very important to me and very important to this story.
I want to bring in Derek Johnson, who is the president of the NAACP, president and CEO of the NAACP. Charles Blow is here as a Harvard fellow political commentator and the author of Blow the Stack. Substack, you got to check that out. Monique Presley is a legal analyst, political commentator, trial attorney, and a friend of the Don Lemon Show. I think Monique, yeah, Monique is here.
And then later on, we're going to be joined by Bakari Sellers, D.L. Hughley and Representative Jasmine Crockett. So let's play this video. And I want to hear from the guests. Here's the video. We also have Tim Wise here. Oh, Tim Wise is here as well. Tim Wise. Hello, Tim. Good to see you.
An anti-racist professor and racist and expert on racism in America and outspoken and also a bestselling author. Here's the video. And so it is the song from the Lion King, but we can't play the song because of the music rights. We will get demonetized and they'll pull this down. And this is important. We don't want to pull down. But there you see the governor of Illinois depicted as an elephant.
And there's Hakeem Jeffries. And there is Trump. I want to start with the president and CEO of the NAACP as we watch this. What do you say, Mr. Johnson?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Trump's racist post for the presidency?
Good morning.
Good morning. You know, I'm not surprised. It is Friday. Every Thursday and Friday, they do something outlandish to distract or distort the message. We realize that he's unpopular. He's running out of white people, so he's put into the lowest common denominator. The depictions of individuals of being criminal or subhuman is an old tactic.
Frederick Douglass responded during his time because majority of Americans during his time was illiterate, white Americans. And so they will communicate through cartoon characters. So Frederick Duncan decided that he would be depicted as a dignified, strong African-American male.
And what we're witnessing today is the former president, not in the Epstein file, who served with dignity, continued to uphold the presidency in a way in which we would think it should be upheld as a former president. And the current president is completely envious because he is in the Epstein files molesting 13-year-old girls.
And so we are now in this moment of an appeal to the lowest common denominator to white racists.
Charles Blow? One of the things that's really interesting to me is how... the coarsening is happening all the time and the window of what is acceptable or not completely damaging and disempowering keeps moving when in 2018 when Roseanne Barr who is an actual comedian compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape within hours ABC
statement about that and cancel her show, which was incredibly popular at the time, a big decision for them to make. But again, we were at that time, we had a Black president. I mean, no, sorry, not a Black president. We were in the middle of the rise of Black Lives Matter, and it was a different environment. And now we get to a point, I looked on ABC's site, the window has completely moved.
I assume that this particular story will get a day of coverage, if coverage at all. The day that Roseanne said that, I was on CNN with a panel of, I think, six people. It was a very large panel of people on Anderson Cooper's show, and everyone was denouncing it and talking about it in historical terms. Now it's kind of a blip.
And one thing that I would say, I think you're on with me as well, Charles, if I remember correctly, is that correct? Maybe that's true. And one thing I'm just saying, but yeah, what I will say as well about you saying is distracting. I think one thing that we got.
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Chapter 4: What responses are expected from the Republican party regarding Trump's racism?
Stay tuned. Right. I think.
you mentioned caroline levitt she hasn't been brought into the conversation yet this is a woman who wears a big jesus cross around her neck every time she gets up and bears false witness so i suppose there are parts of the bible she chooses to pay attention to other parts she does not what i think is important about this particular meme or this particular video though and and it's worth commenting on it you know is it a distraction
Of course, potentially so. Is it obviously racist? Well, of course it is. But I think it's not just the fact that it's a trolling racist depiction of the Obamas. You can see that on any sort of MAGA identified X account any day of the week. What I think people need to understand and appreciate
is that this dehumanization of black people, and particularly the use of simian imagery, the use of ape-like imagery, is an old trope. It is done deliberately to lower the threshold of acceptable violence against black people. It is done to demean so that harm can be done. It is not some some playful thing.
I'm sure there are trolls on X that put stuff like that up just to like trigger the libs or whatever they would say. But when you do this over and over, just like when the Labor Department puts out obviously white supremacist memes talking about we will have our homeland back or whatever, that is done to desensitize us.
to the overtly white supremacist and racist messaging and not only messaging, but policy of this administration. And then finally, the greatest irony of this whole thing is that the only one acting like an ape in this scenario is Donald Trump, because apes throw shit on the walls. And that's what his ex feed or his true social feed is.
He's just throwing shit on the walls like a like either like an ape or maybe like a four year old child. And, you know, we're not we're not apparently outraged enough about the fact that it's not only white supremacist, it's not only racist, it's childlike behavior on the part of the most powerful man on the planet, arguably.
And speaking of that, that's what his supporters did on January 6th in the Capitol is spread poop on the wall like apes. Bakari Sellers is here as well. Bakari Sellers is an attorney, a two-time New York Times bestseller, and a friend. Thank you for joining us, Bakari. Appreciate it. We'll get to you in a second. Can you hear us, Bakari? Are you good? Yeah, no.
I'm just trying to figure out why I'm on a panel with all these brilliant folk. Jesus Christ. Let's hear from DL and then we'll hear from you, Bakari. Maybe DL can explain it. But DL, thank you so much, brother, for joining. When you saw this, I know that you're traveling this morning. You just flew in and you just landed. Did you get your bearings? And what do you think of this?
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Chapter 5: What actions should Republicans take in response to Trump's racist posts?
I would watch their actions, not their words, to express outrage at what is so clearly a racist trope. And not even, you know, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. But don't assume they're going to do anything. They haven't done it. They are bought and paid for, all of them. And their self-interest is over the community, over all people, not just the Black community, but everybody.
And so they will do whatever it takes. That's what I was going to say.
What about the Republican Party as a whole, not just black Republicans? I would expect Republicans to come out in general.
Of course, of course.
Chapter 6: How does the discussion shift towards the Republican Party's accountability?
You know, it's not like remember when when he was the whole pussy grabbing thing, when it had to be as a father of a daughter. How about as a father, as a son? How about as a person? Like, let's let's stop with this nonsense, you know, and I think you're not going to hear from the GOP at all because it's not the GOP.
It's the Trump party and the Trump party enjoys doing these kind of memes that are derogatory and they enjoy tearing down women and they enjoy it and it's good for them and it gives them some sort of weird high and and and, you know, and the head of it likes it and seems to enjoy doing it. And so don't assume any good intentions from any of these people at this point.
And plus they're distracting because that's what everyone will talk about today, unfortunately.
Thank you, Cara. I'll see you soon.
All right. Thanks, Don. See you later.
Bye.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of Trump's racism for society?
Thank you. Clay, I know you've been wanting to jump in. And I want to bring – oh, Garrison Hayes is here as well. Garrison, thank you for joining us. Garrison is a thought leader. He has his own show, a digital show, and we'll talk to him in just a minute. But I want to bring Clay in to get his response. Go ahead, Clay.
Okay.
Let me just say this about Tim Scott. Tim Scott has been tap dancing until his heels have been bleeding. He's made an entire career out of it. Tim Scott is a Jim Crow shame. He is a complete embarrassment. And his record alone is shameful on voting rights, on the George Floyd Policing Act.
Chapter 8: How does the media's response shape public perception of Trump's actions?
And Tim Scott is about to get his wake up call. Because when Colin Powell spoke out. Didn't he get that wake up call when they said, okay, go on. Some people, a hard head makes a soft ass. Some folks need it a few times. Because we all love the late great Colin Powell. But when he was booed at the RNC convention for mentioning affirmative action, there was a wake up call there.
JC Watts got it too. A lot of folks got it as well. Tim Scott is shameful. Donald Trump has been steeped in racism since the 1970s. There is still a defamation lawsuit against him from the Central Park Five. He is shameful. During the campaign, Donald Trump said more or less black folks can relate to him because he has a mugshot.
So I'm praying that Tim Scott gets a soul who likes to remind us that he went from cotton to Congress, that he went from cotton to Congress because of where his family is from. That imagery you saw right there from the Trump administration, it's exactly what they did with black folks during reconstruction.
Black folks who were in Congress during Reconstruction, making them look like animals and monkeys. But it's nothing new. So what are you going to do? What is Byron going to say? What is Burgess Owens going to say? What are you all going to do now? This man is a stone-cold racist. And the other thing, Don, I call it Southern Strategy 2.0 messaging.
Because you could look at President Bush's, the first Bush, the Willie Horton ad. You can go to Ronald Reagan, the welfare queen narrative. This isn't all happening in a Trump GOP vacuum. There's a thin line between a macro-Republican and a quote-unquote regular Republican. You can go back to all of these folks who use hate and division. And the thing is, will it help his base?
Will it make his base warm and fuzzy inside? So I'm not surprised. I'm not shocked. It's another day. and folks are gonna keep on tap dancing. I don't know what Timmy and Mindy are gonna talk about tonight as they see their president do this, but no credit for Tim Scott, no credit for any of them. As they're tearing down in my hometown of Philadelphia exhibits to slavery.
What did you say about that? And what do you do policy wise? So I'm not surprised. And will there be any accountability? No, and don't forget the Epstein files. Well, yes. Garrison. I think Clay hit the nail on the head with something. This isn't the most racist thing that Donald Trump has done. We need to make sure that's said. This is actually low-level racism for Donald Trump.
This is something that targets two very specific people. Two very specific people have been depicted in a disgusting way. But in many ways, I think for the sensibilities of white America, this potentially crosses a line that will likely be moved again. But this is almost like an N-word kind of usage. This is the thing that you can do all the kinds of racist things you want to do.
You can remove Black history. You can reinstate the monuments of Albert Pike and other Confederates. You can reinstate the names of slaveholders onto our U.S. military bases, Confederates who betrayed the United States of America. You can reinstate their names. You can reinstate that history. You can honor those people. You can say that the person who killed Medgar Evers wasn't a racist.
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