New York Republican pressed to explain Trump’s post depicting the Obamas as apes and his threats to withhold funding

An interview with Rep. Mike Lawler of New York exemplified on Sunday how frontline members in purple districts are being pressed from all sides, as the lawmaker found himself facing questions about Donald Trump’s punishment of his state and a racist Truth Social post from the president.

Lawler was on ABC’s This Week on Sunday to outline issues where he is at odds with the White House, including the official response to a video posted from the @realDonaldTrump account on Truth Social, which depicted Michelle and Barack Obama as apes in what was immediately recognized by many as an allusion to racist stereotypes about Black people. The video appeared to originate from a Trump-supporting meme account.

The president’s account later deleted the video and blamed a staffer for its posting, but Trump himself has resisted issuing an actual apology. Asked on Air Force One whether he’d apologize, Trump responded: “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”

Lawler was asked about the fallout on Sunday, and responded that sometimes it was best to just apologize — especially, he added, given the longstanding pain and anger surrounding racist depictions of Black people and the admission that the video was inappropriate.

“Look, I think sometimes in our public discourse, it is best to just say, 'I'm sorry,’” he told ABC News. “I take the White House at their word that this was a mistake, but at the end of the day given the history of our nation, given the insensitivities with some of the stereotypes that have long been promulgated to attack African-Americans, I think it’s important to recognize that and meet the moment.

open image in gallery

“I’m glad they deleted it...but that type of meme or implication is wrong. And I think whoever created the original meme is an idiot,” he continued. “That type of content should not exist in our country.”

The video was widely condemned before it was removed from the president’s account, including by the Senate’s lone Black Republican, Tim Scott. Scott called it “the most racist thing” he’d seen “out of this White House”.

Lawler is running for re-election in New York’s 17th congressional district, a district that voted for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by a slim margin (less than one percent) in 2024. More than most, Lawler is facing pressures from voters in his district to hold the line on issues that other members of his caucus are diametrically opposed to supporting, such as his fight to raise the state and local tax deduction (SALT) caps in 2025, during discussions around the “One Big, Beautiful Bill”.

open image in gallery

He was also questioned by Jonathan Karl on Sunday about Trump’s reported demand that officials in New York and Virginia rename national landmarks — New York’s Penn Station and the capital region’s Dulles International Airport, after him, in exchange for allowing federal funding to continue for transportation and other projects.

The demand hasn’t been confirmed by administration officials, but follows Trump’s renaming of the Kennedy Center in his own honor and christening of “Trump accounts” for children created under his controversial bill.

Lawler found himself struggling to dismiss the suggestion without overtly rebuking the president. Instead, he pivoted to blaming Democrats for a government shutdown in the fall.

“I have been against freezing the funds. But how did we get here? Chuck Schumer decided last fall to shut the government down for 43 days. And as a result, this critical infrastructure project was frozen during that shutdown, in which the entirety of the federal government, you know, was depleted of funds. I know there have been numerous conversations between the president and Senator Schumer to try and resolve this,” Lawler claimed.

“I mean, he's holding the money hostage for having these things named after him,” Karl responded.

“Jon, at the end of the day to me, I really could care less what the name of a building is. A critical infrastructure project is. I care that it gets done. And ultimately in my, from my vantage point, you know, work it out,” Lawler shot back.

Another issue around which Lawler finds himself significantly isolated from conservatives in his party is immigration.

During his interview on Sunday, the congressman called it unrealistic to aim to deport the country’s entire estimated population of 25 million undocumented immigrants, and called for a “legal path forward” to be enacted in legislation for some undocumented Americans. Members of the president’s hardline anti-immigration inner circle, such as Stephen Miller, and many conservatives in Congress are opposed to the idea, which they call “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

Lawler stressed that his proposal did not go so far as to suggest a pathway to full citizenship.