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Despite Donald Trump’s war on woke, he hasn’t (yet) made Black History Month illegal. In fact, on Tuesday the president issued a proclamation declaring February 2026 to be a celebration of Black history and called “upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities”.
Clearly he didn’t get his own memo because, two days later, during one of his frenetic late-night Truth Social ranting sessions, the president posted a racist video that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The minute-long video, made by a third party, amplified false claims that Trump won the 2020 election and showed the first Black president and first lady superimposed on the bodies of primates in a jungle setting, bobbing their heads to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
It would be wrong to call this a mask-off moment because there is no mask with Trump. He has called Somali immigrants “garbage”, talked about “shithole countries”, and described Covid-19 as the “kung flu”. He launched his 2016 presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants drug dealers, criminals and rapists. He repeatedly questioned Obama’s birth certificate. He initiated a so-called Muslim ban and used the word “Palestinian” as a slur. And Palestinians mean so little to him that a plan to build megacities in the ruins of Gaza circulated in the White House.
While Trump’s latest exhibition of racism was hardly surprising, it was still shocking. Indeed, the image was so blatantly racist that even some of Trump’s allies were disgusted. Senator Tim Scott, for example, who was on Trump’s shortlist to be VP in 2024 and is the only Black Republican senator, wrote that the video was the “most racist thing” he has seen from the Trump White House. You should probably pay a little bit more attention then, Tim! There’s plenty of competition for that accolade.
A few other Republicans, including Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, also denounced the post. And a number of Democrats spoke out, with House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in Congress, calling Trump “a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder”.
The White House, meanwhile, responded with their go-to strategy of aggressive gaslighting. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Shortly after that statement, however, the story coming out of the administration changed. The video was taken down and it was reported that a White House staffer “erroneously made the post”.
By rights, the Trump administration deleting the post wouldn’t be the end of this story. By rights, the outrage over this would mount and Trump would face serious consequences for his actions. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but for the benefit of press secretary Leavitt, I’m going to spell it out: Trump’s stupid memes and social media posts matter. They matter because the president helps set the parameters of acceptable discourse. They matter because his bigotry emboldens others. Most of all, they matter because they reflect his policies.
But while Trump’s racist video should impact his presidency, it won’t, will it? This is, after all, a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual predator we are talking about. A man who appears to be successfully shrugging off his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, a child rapist. Give it a few days and nobody will remember this story. It will have been eclipsed by another scandal and then another scandal and then another scandal. And, if we’re not careful, we will grow ever more desensitized to these scandals.
It’s not just democracy that is dying in the US right now; it is common decency. Every day when I look at the news I wonder what on earth I am supposed to tell my four-year-old about how to succeed in a world where kindness and compassion seem to be hindrances to getting ahead. A world where it is the scum that rises to the top. The idea that we live in a meritocracy (a word coined by a man who used it satirically) has long been demonstrably false. Now, however, we seem to live in a malice-ocracy: the nastier, the crueler, the more self-serving you are, the better your chances of success.
It has not been a good week for the Norwegian royal family …
The son of Norway’s crown princess, Marius Borg Høiby, is currently on trial accused of 38 crimes (which he denies), including four counts of rape, domestic abuse and illegal filming. Meanwhile his mother, Mette-Marit, is facing questions about her relationship with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. There appear to be almost 1,000 mentions of the crown princess in the Epstein files.
… Also quite a bad week for the British royal family
An email apparently sent by Ghislaine Maxwell appears to confirm a photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with his arm around Virginia Giuffre’s waist is real. The man formerly known as Prince Andrew has said he can’t remember the photo being taken, suggested it might be fake, and also claimed he was at a Pizza Express the night in question. Andrew can continue to deny and deflect all he likes, but general consensus is that he’s a wrong ‘un. He’s had to move out of his home in Windsor to a more secluded residence and is reportedly struggling to find staff because no one wants to work for him. I’m not sure why on earth he needs staff or who is paying for it. Try cleaning up after yourself, Andrew.
The Winter Olympics battle ‘penisgate’
If you have ever wondered why a ski jumper might want to inject his penis with hyaluronic acid, there is currently a lot of discussion happening on the matter.
Republican candidate created Tinder account ‘to meet young female voters where they are’
Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback said he’s on Tinder to share his plan to make it easier for women “to get married, buy a home, and raise a family”. Are you perchance wondering whether Mr Fishback has, like certain other Republicans, been accused of being inappropriate with women? Ding, ding, ding! You are correct. NBC News reported in December on allegations that, in 2022, a 27-year-old Fishback had an inappropriate relationship with a student who was a minor at the time. He has denied this. Perhaps if you match on Tinder he’ll elaborate further.
The women protecting India’s snow leopards
Nicknamed the “ghosts of the mountains”, snow leopards are one of the Himachal Pradesh’s most elusive predators. Nearly a dozen local women in a village along the Himalayan belt are now working along the forest department and conservations to install and monitor camera traps to help monitor and protect the species. “Earlier, men used to go and install the cameras and we kept wondering why couldn’t we do it too,” one of the women told the BBC.
The week in pawtriarchy
If you’re in Oklahoma, keep an eye out for a canine couple that have been stealing packages from people’s front steps. The “pooch pirates” have been caught on camera swiping an Amazon package and trotting away with it. Officers were able to recover the stolen item and the dogs are now facing charges for “Being Fur-ociously Adorable”.
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Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
