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NERMEEN SHAIKH: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Nermeen Shaikh, with Amy Goodman.
President Trump is refusing to apologize for publishing a racist video that depicts former President Obama and Michelle Obama as apes. The video was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account late Thursday night, where it remained for 12 hours before it was deleted around noon on Friday. It prompted rare criticism of the president from Republicans, including Tim Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican. Scott said, quote, “It’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” unquote, adding that he was “praying it was fake.” But speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump refused to apologize.
REPORTER: Mr. President, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you’re going to do?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, I didn’t make a mistake. I mean, you give — I look at a lot of — thousands of things. And I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine. They had that one post. And I guess it was a takeoff. By the way, a lot of people were covered. If you look at where it came from, a lot of — I guess it was a takeoff on The Lion King. And certainly it was a — a very strong post in terms of voter fraud.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we’re joined by Wisdom Cole, senior national director of advocacy for the NAACP.
So, President Trump tweets out a picture of the Obamas as apes, doesn’t take it down for more than 12 hours, after there is not only Democratic but Republican outcry. Can you respond to him now refusing to apologize for this tweet, Wisdom, this in the middle, we’ll just add, of Black History Month?
WISDOM COLE: You know, Amy, I have to say, I’m not surprised. You know, this is a disgusting and despicable display of racism from President Trump. You know, instead of unifying the nation and celebrating the achievements of Black America has made on the hundredth anniversary of Black History Month, he chooses to continue to perpetuate bigotry. I want to be clear that this behavior is what we’ve seen from President Trump and the Trump administration through its countless racist policies — rolling back the efforts of diversity, equity, inclusion; deployment of the National Guard and ICE. These are all distractions that are reshaping the role of government, especially every time we see more and more information about President Trump in the Epstein files. These distractions are distractions from a failed economy, where Black unemployment has increased, while President Trump and his friends continue to get rich. This is unacceptable behavior in America.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And if you could talk about the fact that, actually, this is not at all the first time that Obama has — sorry, that President Trump has posted an AI-generated image of the Obamas — in fact, just last year, he shared a video, again, generated by AI, showing Obama being arrested at the White House and later in prison — and his systematic attacks on the Black community in the U.S., calling Somalis — saying Somalis have a low IQ, and his administration recently announcing rules that will ban nearly 90% of African immigrant visa applications? So, if you could comment on that? And again, this month, the hundredth anniversary of Black History Month.
WISDOM COLE: You know, this continues to show the weird obsession that President Trump has with the Obamas — right? — even going way back into his declaring or finding of his birthright — right? — his obsession of this need to identify that, even though we do know the truth, right? We see this obsession with Representative Ilhan Omar and the remarks that he’s made towards her, as well as other immigrants, right?
Immigrants are part of the fabric of America. It’s important for us to understand and recognize their role here and what they’ve done to contribute to help build America, recognizing that this is an issue all across this nation, where we see that they’re coming from a certain subset of group. They’re coming for all of us, right?
And in this hundredth anniversary of Black History Month, we have to double down and tell the truth and tell what is history, what are the lies. As this administration continues to retell the truth, remove history from our areas or our sanctities or our museums — right? — we see that this administration is continuing to perpetuate lies.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, Mick Mulvaney, the chief of staff in the first Trump administration, says the Republican Party has cost itself the midterms with the video, saying this weekend, “You can kiss the midterms goodbye.” Before we go, the NAACP has launched a “Dry ICE” campaign, urging the U.S. Senate to block federal funding for ICE. Can you explain what this campaign is about?
WISDOM COLE: Absolutely. You know, so, the NAACP has been present in Minneapolis. We have an amazing branch president and branch leaders who are there on the frontlines, working in community with others. Just a couple weeks ago, myself and other NAACP national leaders were there in Minneapolis after the murder of Alex Pretti and working with groups to talk about what we do next, right? They are continuing to organize. They’re continuing to mobilize. They’re continuing to inform people about what is going on — right? — even when it comes to the freedom of the press, right? We see young leaders across this nation who are speaking up and advocating. We see leaders who were in Minneapolis being detained because they are covering what is going on on the ground, right? Again, we have to recognize that this impacts all of us, and so we have to work together to mobilize.
The NAACP’s “Dry ICE” campaign is urging the withdrawal of federal immunity from ICE agents, the resignation or removal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the prohibition of federal and local law enforcement cooperation. In addition to that, we want to ensure that there’s a mandate for unmasking agents while on duty, to promote transparency and identification. It’s important that we work together to dry ICE out. This is an agency that is not serving our community, that is not serving our people, that is continuing to separate families, and it is disgusting.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Wisdom, we just have 30 seconds, but I just want to ask you about this Atlantic report that says that immediately after the video was posted on Truth Social, the memecoin $APEBAMA was minted. Within 12 hours, more than $4 million worth of $APEBAMA had been traded back and forth. Your response?
WISDOM COLE: Yeah, this is another example of how President Trump and his friends are getting rich off of racism, right? Again, as we are reaching the 250th anniversary of America, this country that was built on the backs of immigrants, that was built on the backs of folks who have worked together tirelessly to achieve the American dream, you see the rich get richer and using racism at their hand to continue to do that. We have to make sure that we stop this, we root this out, and that we address this at all levels.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Wisdom Cole, thank you so much for joining us. Wisdom Cole is the senior national director of advocacy for the NAACP.
Coming up, we’ll look at the Winter Olympics in Milan. Vice President JD Vance was booed during the opening ceremony, and thousands protested in the streets over the U.S. sending ICE agents to the Games. Back in 30 seconds.
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NERMEEN SHAIKH: “Sin Masticar,” “Without Chewing,” by the Puerto Rican singer and songwriter iLe, performing in our Democracy Now! studio.
