President Donald Trump is facing widespread criticism from both Republicans and Democrats after he shared a video on his Truth social account late Thursday night depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
The video, which was deleted from Trump’s account on Friday amid protests, included a clip that appeared to be AI-generated to the song “The Lions Sleep Tonight” and included an image of the Obamas’ open-mouthed faces pressed against the bodies of monkeys in a jungle. The clip was part of a longer video promoting conspiracy theories about voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
Portraying the Obamas as apes, or monkeys, is consistent with centuries of racist tropes that have been used historically to justify the dehumanization of Black people.
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President Trump insisted on Friday that he had instructed his staff to share the video but had not seen the part in question.
“I didn’t see everything,” Trump said. “I saw the first part, and it was actually about machine voter fraud, how skewed it is, how bad it is. Then I gave it to people. Usually they see the whole thing, but I think somebody didn’t.”
Asked by reporters if he would condemn the video, President Trump replied, “Of course I do,” but refused to apologize, saying, “I was not wrong.”
The clip appears to be taken from a video that conservative meme creator Xelious shared on X in October. The video also depicted other prominent Democrats as animals, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In it, former President Joe Biden was depicted as a monkey eating a banana, and President Trump was depicted as a lion.
The White House initially defended the video. “This is from an Internet meme video that depicts President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt told the media in a statement. “Stop the false outrage and report today on the things that actually matter to the American people.”
However, the video was later removed from Trump’s official Truth social account, and the White House said it had been posted in error by a staffer after the post drew outrage from several members of the president’s own party.
“I hope this is fake because this is the most racist thing I’ve seen in this White House. The President should get rid of it,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, posted on X Friday morning.
Scott’s fellow Republican senators, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, similarly condemned the video and called for its removal and an apology from the president.
“This is completely unacceptable,” Wicker wrote to X.
“Even if this was a Lion King meme, any sane person would understand that it has a racist undertone,” Ricketts posted on the platform. “The White House should remove this and apologize, just like anyone should do when they make a mistake.”
Another Republican, Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, called the video “intentionally or by mistake, wrong and extremely offensive,” and recommended that it “be removed immediately with an apology.”
A chorus of Democratic lawmakers, including party leaders in both the House and Senate, also slammed the video Friday and called on Republicans to speak out against the president’s posts.
“President Obama and Michelle Obama are smart, caring, and patriotic Americans. They are the best representatives of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, free-spirited, malignant bottom feeder,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X.
Demanding a response from Republicans, Jeffries specifically nominated him for Senate Majority Leader. “Why do Republican leaders like John Thune continue to support this sick man? All Republicans must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s abhorrent bigotry.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the video, calling it “racist. Despicable. Abominable.”
“This is dangerous and degrading to our country. Where are Senate Republicans?” Democratic leaders wrote in X, calling on President Trump to apologize to the Obamas and calling the former president and first lady “two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a small, enviable man.”
“As someone who grew up during the civil rights movement, I am completely disgusted,” Mississippi Democratic Congressman Bennie G. Thompson posted. “Donald Trump has been openly spewing hate, bigotry, and division for years, and this racist act is just the latest reminder of who he is. I say this is a new low, but those who know him know better. There is no bottom. He should be ashamed.”
Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee, on which Thompson is the ranking member, also responded with fierce criticism, calling Trump an “abnormal racist” and calling his presidency “a lasting stain on our country.”
“Every Republican should be forced to see that image and loudly defend it,” Democrats on the committee wrote about X.
Beyond Washington, several state leaders and civil rights groups also spoke out against Trump’s posts.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a fierce and outspoken Trump opponent, said in a short post that “Donald Trump is a racist.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a vocal opponent of the president, made similar statements, saying he is considering running for president in 2028. In a post on X, Newsom’s news organization called Scott “essentially the only Republican with backbone” and said, “Republicans are so weak they can’t stand up to this! Pathetic!”
The NAACP noted that Trump’s video sharing came in the midst of Black History Month, and said the president’s post was “a stark reminder of how Trump and his supporters truly view people.”
“And we will remember that in November,” the organization wrote to X.
Trump has a long history of attacking former President Obama. He repeatedly falsely claimed that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore ineligible to serve as president, amplifying the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory. But on another occasion, he admitted that Obama was born in the United States
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In 2019, the then-Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved a resolution accusing Trump of “racist comments” after he tweeted that four members of color should return to their “devastated and crime-infested” countries. All four were U.S. citizens, and three were born in the United States.
Former first lady Barack Obama criticized President Trump during her speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and spoke of the racism directed at her and her husband.
“For years, Donald Trump has done everything he can to make people afraid of us,” she said. “Because of his limited and narrow worldview, he felt threatened by the presence of two people who happened to be black, hard-working, well-educated, and successful.”
The Obamas have not commented on the video or Trump’s sharing of it on his account.
