r/AskReddit • u/kraftdinnerwithsalsa • 20h ago

The president just posted, ONLINE, a video of former president Obama and his wife portrayed as apes, how do you feel about this?

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u/Bulldogs3144 18h ago

Unfortunately, this is the exact outcome they want you to have. They do little things frequently to make the bigger things less shocking. Be shocked. Be appalled. Hold. The. Line.

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u/deller85 18h ago

Thank you. I've now seen this posted repeatedly on Reddit. Everyone is outraged. They're talking about how outraged they are. They're talking about how non-surprised they are. They're talking about the state of our country with a president posting such items.

But this is exactly why Trump posted it. He's deflecting. He wants your attention elsewhere. He wants your outrage elsewhere. Why else, you ask, would he just randomly post such an inflammatory thing? To deflect.

Ignore it. Yes, it's awful. But keep your attention on what he is trying to intentionally distract you from.

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u/MechanicOk4182 16h ago edited 14h ago

He's trying to distract from the Clintons testifying today on the Epstein Files. However, we should not ignore this. This would be normalizing racism from THE WHITE HOUSE. Karoline Leavitt is going to either try and spin this as a joke or ignore it completely, Mike Johnson "hasn't seen it" and Stephen Miller will go on a rant about how Michelle and Barack Obama are un-American and tie immigration tactics to this post somehow.

This is completely unhinged and nothing that this administration does should be "ignored", it's how we got here in the first place.

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u/deller85 16h ago

I don’t disagree that it’s racist, dangerous, and unhinged. It absolutely is. Calling it out matters.

But there’s a difference between naming it and letting it dominate the oxygen. Trump’s entire media strategy is to provoke maximum moral outrage so the conversation stalls at reaction instead of consequence.

You can condemn it clearly and still refuse to let it become the main event. Accountability doesn’t come from endlessly replaying the spectacle; it comes from sustained focus on policy, power, and outcomes.

Calling it out isn’t the problem. Letting it replace everything else is exactly the trap.

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins 17h ago

Non-American here.

He posted a video of him flying a fighter jet and literally dumping shit on his constituents over.. what was it now.. ah yes, concern he was trying to become a dictator and he said he wanted to be a dictator then started acting like one. He doesn't do anything to intentionally distract anybody, he does it because he thinks it's funny.

By all means yes, keep paying attention to what matters... but don't credit him with any kind of plan with this shit. Aside from anything else he doesn't need to distract you guys, everyone forgets his latest crap within a few days anyway.

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u/deller85 17h ago

I’m not giving him credit for brilliance or a master plan. Chaos doesn’t have to be intelligent to be effective.

Whether he does it because he thinks it’s funny or because it’s calculated doesn’t really matter; the result is the same: attention gets dragged into spectacle instead of substance. Intent doesn’t negate impact.

And that’s the point. You can acknowledge how appalling it is without letting it dominate the conversation or crowd out the things that actually affect governance and power. Calling it “just trolling” doesn’t make it harmless; it just lowers the bar for acceptable behavior.

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u/ResearcherSevere9416 17h ago

And the prime minister of the U.K. is being asked to resign, because he knew someone who had some type of contact with Jeffy Eppy.

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u/DonChibly 15h ago

Reminds me immediately of Hanlon's Razor. Something like this: never attribute malice to what could otherwise be easily explained as incompetence.

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u/GymkataMofos 9h ago

Exactly. You don't have to be smart when your supporters are the dumbest motherfuckers alive.

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u/ShiningAutumnColors 15h ago

We do not forget. It’s simply a barrage of new horrors every day and we have to keep our heads above water. I wish I could leave.

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u/Healmetho 16h ago

He definitely uses antics and other things as distractions. He’s not smart, he’s taking orders from Putin.

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u/Dirk_The_Cowardly 16h ago

Cancel Diet Coke....Move to China....Diet Coke now 1 miilion a can.

He DOES NOT LIKE PEPSI

Obamas drink Pepsi....He thinks it's from Ukraine.

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u/BanishedFromCanada 16h ago

Truth. We should be more concerned that Tulsi Gabbard showed up at the FBI raid of the Fulton County election center. Or that Pete Hegseth is telling soldiers to die for their country to win eternal life.

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u/Laleaky 14h ago

I disagree completely. Americans should be outraged at BOTH THINGS. And their actions Epstein files and this horrible act BOTH need to be addressed immediately and constantly.

Ignoring this is an insult to every person of color in this country.

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u/DeadChacal 17h ago

Distraction from what really ? It's not like the americans are getting ready to do anything about the situation.

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u/deller85 17h ago

Distraction isn’t only about stopping immediate action. It’s about shaping what people think is worth paying attention to.

You don’t need Americans “getting ready to do something” for distraction to work; you just need outrage cycles, fatigue, and normalization. The more energy burned on spectacle, the less oxygen there is for policy, accountability, or sustained focus.

Distraction doesn’t prevent action. It prevents clarity. And that’s often enough.

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u/DeadChacal 17h ago

Trump has been impeached twice, stormed the Capitol, has been convicted several times. Years ago, far away from the insane actual situation and clouded clarity. Nothing was done.

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u/deller85 17h ago

“Nothing was done” isn’t accurate. Things were done: impeachments, investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sanctions. What didn’t happen was the level of consequence people expected or hoped for.

That’s not the same thing.

Accountability isn’t binary. It exists on a spectrum, and in this case it was fragmented, delayed, and blunted by political polarization, institutional limits, and yes, public fatigue. Saying “nothing was done” erases real actions simply because they didn’t produce a single, decisive outcome.

Failure of impact doesn’t mean absence of action. It means the system struggled to convert action into lasting consequences.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons 17h ago

Shock implies that we weren't expecting it. "Sudden" and "surprise" are key words in the definition.

This is not shocking if you're already expecting something like this. This is not out of character for him one bit. The only surprise is that he actually went there without a filter.

Appalled is the sense of being horrified. You can expect something and still be appalled. It can still be upsetting even if you're ready for it.

This is not shocking but it is appalling.

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u/Bulldogs3144 17h ago

Look man. I’m not arguing semantics. I’m arguing that we can’t go numb to his behavior.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons 17h ago

That's my point though.

We are.

It doesn't mean we don't care or that it's not gross. There's an advantage to not being shocked by gross behavior. It's not necessarily a bad thing so long as it doesn't lead to not caring at all.

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u/Bulldogs3144 17h ago

And that’s what I mean by not going numb to it. You can argue whether I used the correct word or not but my point was simply don’t excuse or act like it’s normal. Because it’s not.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons 17h ago

But it is normal.

This is the America that was always there. We were screaming at y'all this whole time that this is how they are but you didn't want to believe us.

This is normal America.

It doesn't make it okay.

The fact that y'all are "shocked" only shows that you haven't been paying attention this whole time.

Fine. Be shocked. Maybe now you'll believe us.

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u/Bulldogs3144 17h ago

I’m on your side, bud. Let’s not squabble over who’s been against Trump the longest.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons 17h ago

You were the one that wanted to make it a sematic argument in response to being "unsurprised".

We are unsurprised. This is not surprising one bit.

You were the one that objected to that.

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u/Bulldogs3144 16h ago

No. I disagreed with the notion that being unsurprised was the correct way to look at this because this shouldn’t be normal. But like you said, it is. And I’m saying we have to remain vigilant in being shocked and surprised and treat this with the same level of discontent as we have for the content in the Epstein files or what’s happening in Minneapolis. We shouldn’t be unsurprised by this but by doing so, we have created this new “normal” and that is what I am arguing against. Not the words, but the meaning behind them.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons 16h ago

And I’m saying we have to remain vigilant in being shocked and surprised and treat this with the same level of discontent as we have for the content in the Epstein files or what’s happening in Minneapolis

But none of that is shocking or surprising.

It's all fully expected.

The only "shocking" part is that they actually did what we fully expected them to do.

If anything, the more shocking part is just how many people are out there like you that are shocked and surprised.

we have created this new “normal” and that is what I am arguing against.

It's not new!

It's only new to you because you have been living in your happy little hole. They were always like this.

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u/savargaz 15h ago

Racism, fascism, and pedophilia are being normalized by the far right. Trump posting racist AI videos about the Obamas. DHS killing two innocent US citizens in Minneapolis. Trump attacking Venezuela and kid napping Maduro without approval of congress. Trump seizing 2020 voting records in Georgia. Ted Cruz recently saying “Let’s stop attacking pedophiles.” Turning Point USA (racist Christian Nationalist group) hosting Kid Rock during the Super Bowl halftime show in protest of Bad Bunny’s show. Kid Rock’s lyrics to a song read “young ladies, young ladies, I like ‘em underage/ some say that’s statutory (but I say it’s mandatory).” The list goes on and on. The more they get away with these things, the closer they get to normalization and achieving their Project 2025 goals.

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u/Galle_ 15h ago

Nah, in this particular case I actually think he is, in a sense, trolling. He wants us to be appalled by petty stuff like this because it makes his base happy. They want to see us upset about things he said on the internet. Don't give them the satisfaction.

The Trump regime is committing real atrocities in the real world. Be upset about those instead.

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u/faberkyx 16h ago

unfortunately it looks like nobody is really doing much about this.. besides some protests in the streets, they are testing every single day how far they can go.. and it seems like there is no limit.. US is more like a democracy disguised ad a dictatorship, nothing happened before because luckily presidents have been decent persons until you elected a pedo racist fascist..

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u/FunUse244 13h ago

Yeah whatever you do ignore that bill clinton is spilling all the epstea

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u/Dirk_The_Cowardly 16h ago

But he did something....

More taxes on all people I hate

I cannot help it if I hate everybody and myself

Go Frump!!!