Donald J. Trump spent the days around Thanksgiving not in the traditional mode of presidential reflection, but in a familiar posture of grievance and escalation, according to a widely shared commentary video that has ricocheted across social media.

In the video, posted by the liberal Midas Touch network, the host portrays the former president as careening through a series of controversies: responding to a deadly shooting in Washington, D.C., attacking South Africa over the Group of 20 summit, lashing out at the Somali community in Minnesota and suggesting that the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool is a symbol of “Biden filth and incompetence.”

Taken together, the episodes form what the commentator describes as a case study in how Mr. Trump approaches moments that are traditionally unifying. “Donald Trump hates holidays,” the host says at the outset, arguing that they shift the public’s focus away from the “chaos and madness” that have long surrounded him.

The sharpest criticism in the video centers on Mr. Trump’s reaction to a shooting in Washington involving two National Guard members. The host asserts that the suspect, described as an Afghan national, arrived in the United States in 2021 but was granted some form of protection by the Trump administration earlier this year — and accuses Mr. Trump of deflecting responsibility while promoting favorable but dubious polling numbers about his popularity.

Those accusations could not be independently verified in the video itself, and the commentary presents them in overtly prosecutorial fashion. Still, the segment underscores a broader concern among Trump critics: that the former president tends to personalize national security crises and turn them into tests of loyalty rather than moments for sober public reassurance.

The video then turns overseas, focusing on Mr. Trump’s social media dispute with South Africa over the G20 rotating presidency. Mr. Trump has accused South Africa’s government of complicity in what he calls a “white genocide,” language widely condemned by experts and rights groups as inflammatory and false. In response, the commentator notes, President Cyril Ramaphosa and other South African officials have rejected the claim as malicious, and Mr. Trump has threatened to bar South Africa from the 2026 summit in Miami and cut off aid.

The host calls Mr. Trump’s posture “pathetic” and urges other G20 members to boycott any summit held at a Trump-branded property, framing the standoff as part ethics issue, part geopolitical risk.

Domestically, the video highlights a speech in which Mr. Trump describes “hundreds of thousands of Somalians” in Minnesota as “ripping off our country” and “ripping apart that once great state.” The host argues that the comments are part of a pattern of scapegoating immigrant communities, particularly Muslims and Africans, and notes that the D.C. shooting suspect was Afghan, not Somali — a distinction, he suggests, that Mr. Trump ignored in favor of a broader narrative of threat.

Another flashpoint is a post in which Mr. Trump shares an image of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and promises that Americans “won’t be seeing this Biden filth and incompetence much longer” once he and his interior secretary have “fixed” it. The commentator interprets the language as a possible threat to alter or dismantle the site, asking, “Is he going to tear down the Lincoln Memorial?” and describing the tone as “sociopathic” on the eve of a national holiday.

The video also dwells on Mr. Trump’s personal insults directed at female reporters. Citing coverage in The New York Times and Bloomberg, the host notes that Mr. Trump recently called one reporter “ugly” and referred to another as “piggy.” He contrasts this with footage from the Obama Foundation, showing Barack Obama delivering measured Thanksgiving remarks and volunteering at food banks with his family.

“I used to revere the presidency,” the host says, adding that he once viewed the office as an example to point to for his own child. Now, he argues, Mr. Trump’s behavior serves as a cautionary tale instead.

Later in the segment, the commentary veers into U.S.–China–Japan relations, relaying an unverified account of a call in which President Xi Jinping purportedly urged Mr. Trump to “shut up Japan” over its stance on Taiwan. The host presents the anecdote as evidence that Mr. Trump has been outmaneuvered by Beijing and has abandoned the “China hawk” rhetoric that many Republicans once emphasized.

The video closes on economic anxiety. Citing conservative media segments praising “cheaper” Thanksgiving dinners at Walmart, the host argues that lower costs are being achieved through fewer items and generic brands rather than real relief for families — a metaphor, he suggests, for a broader political effort to downplay inflation and rising costs of living.

If the tone of the piece is unabashedly partisan, the reaction it captures speaks to a deeper divide in American political culture. For Mr. Trump’s critics, the Thanksgiving weekend was another reminder of a leader they see as driven by grievance, racial resentment and personal vendettas. For his supporters, who are largely absent from the video but prominent in other corners of the media ecosystem, the same statements may read as bracing honesty and refusal to conform to elite expectations.

As the holiday season continues, the clash over which version of leadership the country wants — the sober, unifying rhetoric showcased in the Obama clips or the combative, unfiltered style embodied by Mr. Trump — is likely only to intensify.