Editorial: There’s no excuse for Trump’s racist social media post

By now, Americans have gone numb to the ridiculous statements of the president of the United States. While many of the things he says on a daily basis would be disqualifying for most other politicians, supporters of the president want Donald Trump to be graded on a curve.

But thinking people can see that the permission structures built around excusing the president’s often demeaning, often cruel manner of expressing himself have only made American politics more polarized and toxic than they need to be.

A case in point is the president’s Truth Social post on Thursday night: a one-minute video pitching the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Toward the end of the video, the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays and a clip of Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces superimposed onto apes appears.

The post naturally provoked an uproar about the obvious racism of the depiction, with Gov. Gavin Newsom leading the charge to condemn it. “Disgusting behavior by the President,” the governor posted on X. “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

Most Republican members of Congress, unfortunately, care more about their political careers than the dignity of America, so few spoke up. Even so, the president appeared to have pulled the video. But he did so only after spokesperson Karoline Leavitt offered utterly specious and demonstrably false excuses for the post, calling the responses to the video “fake.”

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King,’” she told Newsweek. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

There are some in MAGA world who might find that explanation sufficient, but we suspect most Trump supporters, after even the briefest of introspection, can see the problem with excusing a racist depiction of the Obamas as “fake.”

In addition to that, Americans across the political spectrum should be troubled by the president’s ongoing fixation with the 2020 presidential election. He lost that election. Every state and local jurisdiction certified their respective election results. No outcome-altering fraud has ever been found. Dozens of lawsuits were tossed, including by Trump-appointed judges.

The president’s ridiculous and conspiratorial response to the 2020 election no doubt played a role in losing two Republican Senate seats in Georgia in 2021 and then whipped his supporters into enough of a frenzy that they stormed the United States Capitol to disrupt the certification of the electoral votes.

The passage of time and the gaslighting of conservatives by right-wing media outlets have left many on the right confused about the 2020 presidential election and even more so about the significance of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That the president remains fixated on this conspiracy theory, rather than tending to his job as the leader of the most powerful institution on the planet, should disturb anyone who wants America to remain a free and prosperous nation.

We say this as an editorial board that remains, as ever, committed to fiscal responsibility, limited government, civil liberties, personal freedom and free markets. Americans must hold the president to a higher standard and stop excusing him like a misbehaving child from a broken home. He is a 79-year-old man and the president of the United States. The failure to do so has only cheapened our nation and risks our future as a beacon for the world.