{"id":266459,"date":"2026-02-06T14:41:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=266459"},"modified":"2026-02-06T14:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:41:08","slug":"trump-shares-racist-video-depicting-obamas-as-apes-then-removes-it-after-bipartisan-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trump-shares-racist-video-depicting-obamas-as-apes-then-removes-it-after-bipartisan-outrage\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump shares racist video depicting Obamas as apes, then removes it after bipartisan outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

CNN-President Donald Trump<\/a> shared a racist video on his social media platform Thursday night that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle, then removed it hours later amid bipartisan outrage, including from a close ally.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Just before noon, the White House blamed a staffer for the video posted to Trump\u2019s Truth Social account and said the post had been removed. The statement came after serious backlash, including from GOP Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, who called the post racist and said Trump should remove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPraying it was fake because it\u2019s the most racist thing I\u2019ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,\u201d the South Carolina Republican, who\u2019s also the chair of the Senate GOP campaign committee, wrote on X.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The White House had earlier defended the post and downplayed the response to the video, calling it \u201cfake outrage.\u201d But just before noon, an official told CNN, \u201cA White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.\u201d By that time, the video had been up for nearly 12 hours. A GOP Senate official said Republican lawmakers had called Trump to discuss the post with him.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And it sent the White House into major damage control mode, sources said, with officials, advisers and allies reaching out to lawmakers and the media to try to dispute that Trump himself played any role. One White House adviser asserted that, \u201cThe president was not aware of that video, and was very let down by the staffer who put it out.\u201d Another ally sought to place blame on a specific aide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>RELATED ARTICLE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US government seems to have a clear message for White nationalists<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 MIN READ<\/a><\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Obamas briefly and suddenly appear near the end of the short video, which promotes false claims that voting machines helped steal the 2020 election, with their faces superimposed onto the bodies of apes. As the images appear, for about one second, the start of the song \u201cThe Lion Sleeps Tonight\u201d plays in the background.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The post, which recalls the racist trope of comparing Black people with monkeys, prompted swift backlash, including from several Republican lawmakers who have had close relationships with the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/a58c55356c100479176fb2e5764fe1b7.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-45\/html\/container.html\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress, condemned the Truth Social post and called on Trump to apologize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe President\u2019s post is wrong and incredibly offensive \u2014 whether intentional or a mistake \u2014 and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered,\u201d Lawler wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another New York Republican facing a tough reelection battle, Rep. Nick LaLota, also urged Trump to delete the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the minutes before its removal, two close White House allies in the Senate \u2014 Pete Ricketts of Nebraska and Roger Wicker of Mississippi \u2014 went public with their own calls for Trump to apologize, in a sign that criticism within the party was beginning to snowball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/a58c55356c100479176fb2e5764fe1b7.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-45\/html\/container.html\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is totally unacceptable,\u201d Wicker, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote on X. \u201cThe president should take it down and apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Trump nor the White House has apologized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the post\u2019s deletion marked an abrupt shift from just hours earlier, when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had dismissed the initial outcry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,\u201d Leavitt said in a statement. \u201cPlease stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/a58c55356c100479176fb2e5764fe1b7.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-45\/html\/container.html\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The clip of the Obamas, which was spliced into the end of a longer video promoting unfounded election conspiracies, appeared to come from a video shared last October by an X user and captioned \u201cPresident Trump: King of the Jungle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That original video depicted several prominent Democrats as various animals, as well as showing the Obamas as apes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The X user who posted that video appeared to be the same one who first posted a video that Trump had shared in October<\/a> showing the president wearing a crown and flying a fighter jet dumping what appears to be waste on protesters at a \u201cNo Kings\u201d rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN has reached out to the Obamas for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n