U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a political firestorm after sharing a controversial video on his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys — a racist trope with a long history of dehumanizing black people.The 62‑second clip, posted late Thursday, spent most of its runtime pushing false claims about 2020 election fraud but ended with a brief frame showing the Obamas’ faces superimposed on primate bodies bobbing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The imagery rapidly drew condemnation from civil rights leaders and political figures across party lines.Republican Sen. Tim Scott called the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and urged Trump to remove it. The NAACP labelled the video “blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable,” accusing the president of trying to distract from other issues. Democratic leaders, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, described Trump’s post as “disgusting behaviour” and demanded every Republican denounce it.Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser under Obama, blasted the video on social media, saying the depiction should “haunt Trump and his racist followers” as a stain on U.S. history..White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post, dismissing the backlash as “fake outrage” and saying the imagery was part of an internet meme portraying Trump as “King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. Leavitt urged critics to focus on issues “that actually matter to the American public.”The video was later deleted from the president’s account after hours of criticism, and a White House official told some outlets the post was made in error by a staffer, though no direct apology was issued.Trump did not personally comment on the video in his post, which came during the first week of Black History Month and has reignited scrutiny over his use of racially charged content on social media as well as his ongoing promotion of unfounded election fraud claims.
