Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump is facing intense political fallout after a video briefly appeared on his Truth Social account showing former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes — an image widely condemned as a racist caricature — before being deleted amid bipartisan outrage.
The video, posted late Thursday night and remaining online for nearly 12 hours, featured a longer clip pushing widely debunked claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Near the end of the video, a brief sequence appeared with the Obamas’ faces superimposed on the bodies of primates dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
White House officials initially defended the post. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as part of a larger “internet meme video” portraying Trump as the “King of the Jungle” and various Democratic leaders as characters from The Lion King, urging critics to focus on other matters.
Backlash From Both Parties
The reaction was swift and fierce, cutting across party lines. Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, called the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” and urged its removal. Other Republican lawmakers, including Senators Pete Ricketts and Roger Wicker, publicly demanded that Trump delete the post and apologise.
Democratic leaders and civil rights groups also condemned the imagery, saying it recalled harmful racist tropes with a long, painful history in American culture.
A senior White House official ultimately said the post had been shared “erroneously” by a staffer and was taken down once the mistake was noticed. The deletion did little to stem the criticism.
Trump Refuses to Apologise
On Friday, Trump insisted he would not apologise for the post. Speaking to reporters from Air Force One, he claimed he had only seen the beginning of the video and did not realise it contained the offensive imagery. “I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine,” he said, asserting that the staffer responsible should have watched it all the way through. He maintained that the video was removed as soon as the issue was identified, but added bluntly: “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
Despite the president’s defiance, some allies — including a close Trump supporter and pastor who spoke about the matter on social media — suggested that the staffer in question should be fired.
Historical and Cultural Context
The incident unfolded during Black History Month, a timing that many critics said made the episode especially jarring. Depictions equating Black Americans with primates have a long history as dehumanising racist imagery, and even a short appearance of such imagery has drawn sharp rebukes from commentators and lawmakers.
The Obamas themselves have not issued a public statement on the video. News organisations continue to reach out for comment.
This episode marks one of the more controversial episodes in Trump’s ongoing use of social media to promote political messages and conspiracy theories, reigniting debates over the boundaries of political expression and the responsibilities of public officeholders in a deeply divided political climate.
