'Scum rises to the top': America's shrug at Trump abomination leaves critic appalled

President Donald Trump issued a Black History Month proclamation on Tuesday, calling "upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities," wrote the Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi.

Two days later, he posted a video on Truth Social that was so appallingly racist it should have destroyed.

It didn't, however. Instead, it was deleted by Trump and then largely shrugged off.

"It would be wrong to call this a mask-off moment because there is no mask with Trump," the columnist wrote.

She went on, "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."

The minute-long video depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as primates in a jungle setting, with their heads superimposed on animal bodies bobbing to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The video accompanied false claims about the 2020 election.

The video generated bipartisan criticism despite Trump's typical immunity from consequences. Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator and former Trump vice-presidential prospect, called it "the most racist thing" he had witnessed from the Trump White House. Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) and other Republicans also denounced the post. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called Trump "a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially deployed a defensive reframing, "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."

But the administration eventually buckled. The video was removed, and officials attributed the post to a White House staffer who "erroneously made" it.

However, consequences remain unlikely, Mahdawi wrote. Trump is a convicted felon with civil judgments against him and documented connections to Jeffrey Epstein. The continuous cycle of scandals produces desensitization. Each controversy is eclipsed by subsequent ones, creating an environment where accountability dissipates.

"It’s not just democracy that is dying in the US right now; it is common decency," the columnist wrote.

"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.