Trump’s Obamas video is blatant racism. Why are Hawley and Schmitt silent? | Opinion

In the first week of Black History Month, the president of the United States chose to amplify a post that inserted an apparently AI-generated video depicting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes.

Let’s call this what it is. It isn’t edgy. It isn’t political humor. And — as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed — it wasn’t an accident.

It’s racism — blatant, dehumanizing, textbook racism — coming from the highest office in the country.

And while most Americans had no trouble recognizing that, every Republican member of Missouri’s congressional delegation has had trouble saying a single word about it so far.

Misssouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver immediately condemned the post as “vile” and urged Americans to refuse to be “the worst versions of themselves.”

His Republican colleagues? Silent as of this writing.

Let’s be honest about what that means. Silence from elected officials isn’t neutrality. It’s a decision.

And there are only two explanations: they either agree with it, or they’re too cowardly to speak. Neither one is leadership.

This shouldn’t be complicated. You shouldn’t need a communications strategy or a pollster to decide whether comparing Black Americans to animals is wrong. You shouldn’t need party permission to say racism is racism. In fact, other Republicans in the Senate are saying it out loud.

Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, called this “the most racist thing” he has seen come out of the White House. If he can say it plainly, what exactly is stopping Missouri’s delegation?

What’s stopping Josh Hawley? What’s stopping Eric Schmitt? These are politicians who rarely miss a chance to get on camera. They issue statements about just about everything. They can fire off outrage tweets in seconds.

But when the president spreads racist propaganda about the Obamas, suddenly they have nothing to say. That’s not restraint. That’s cowardice.

Or worse, complicity.

Because silence from people in power sends a message. It tells Black Missourians that their dignity isn’t worth defending. It tells kids watching that this behavior is normal. It tells the country that Missouri’s leaders will tolerate anything — anything — as long as it keeps them in good standing with their party.

Public service is supposed to require a spine. If our elected officials can’t muster the basic moral clarity to condemn open racism, what exactly are they fighting for on our behalf? You don’t have to be a Democrat to draw this line. You just have to have a conscience.

Missourians deserve leaders who will say, “This is wrong,” without checking first to see how it polls. Right now, too many of our representatives look less like leaders and more like careerists — people so focused on protecting their jobs that they’ll swallow their alleged values to do it.

History is very clear about how this plays out. It rarely judges the loud racists kindly. And it judges the people who stayed silent right alongside them.

This moment shouldn’t be hard. Condemn the racism. Say it’s unacceptable.

The fact that Missouri Republicans can’t even do that tells us everything we need to know.

Claire Cook-Callen is executive director of the 501(c)(4) nonprofit Progress MO.

This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM.