US President Donald Trump provoked widespread condemnation on Friday after posting a video on his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
Top Democrats labeled the post “racist,” while the White House dismissed the backlash as “fake outrage,” describing the video as an “internet meme.”
The one-minute clip, posted late Thursday, promoted false claims that Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 election from Trump. Near the end of the video, the Obamas’ faces appear superimposed on monkeys’ bodies for roughly one second, accompanied by the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Despite the White House’s defense, the post drew swift criticism. The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, called it “disgusting” and urged all Republicans to condemn the video immediately.
Ben Rhodes, former national security advisor and close Obama aide, added on X: “Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history.”
A history of racist attacks
Barack Obama, the only Black US president, supported Trump’s 2024 rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has a long history of targeting Obama, including promoting the racist “birther” conspiracy, which falsely claimed Obama was not born in the United States.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has frequently used hyper-realistic AI-generated visuals on Truth Social, often glorifying himself and mocking his opponents. Last year, he posted a video showing Obama in an orange prison jumpsuit, and another depicting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a fake mustache and sombrero. Jeffries condemned the latter as racist.
Critics have also accused Trump of targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across federal agencies and the military. During his first year back in office, he ended federal DEI initiatives and removed books covering racial discrimination from some military academy libraries.
Legacy of racism in context
US federal anti-discrimination programs were established following the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which sought equality and justice after centuries of slavery and systemic racism. Trump’s repeated attacks on Black leaders and DEI programs have drawn comparisons to a broader effort to roll back progress on racial equity.
AFP
