I am disgusted and appalled by the crass, racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes-a dehumanizing trope long used to justify violence and cruelty against Black people. That this kind of imagery has become a recurring feature of the Trump Administration is as alarming as it is shameful.

This President and his Administration reach new depths of depravity and cruelty with disturbing regularity. Images like these are not harmless and lead to real violence. Even more alarming is the Administration's dismissal of the public's justified outrage as "fake," as if decency itself is something to mock or discard.

What does it say about our country when the leader of the United States engages in conduct so hateful and degrading? When federal agents kill U.S. citizens, when immigrants-the backbone of our nation-are torn from their families, and when racism is normalized at the highest levels of power?

This behavior must be unequivocally denounced. Republicans must denounce it. Every person of conscience must denounce it - or be complicit in the normalization of hate at the highest levels of power.