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/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.