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Trump shares video depicting the Obamas in racially offensive manner
President Donald Trump used his social media account Thursday night to share a video promoting false 2020 election claims that included a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as primates in a jungle. The post immediately drew criticism from across the political spectrum, highlighting Trump’s continued use of incendiary content to amplify election-related conspiracy theories despite widespread legal rulings finding no evidence of fraud affecting the 2020 outcome.
The 62-second clip, part of a broader flurry of posts from Trump overnight, primarily featured a conservative narrative alleging voting machine tampering in key battleground states. Near the end, the video briefly shows two primates with the Obamas’ faces superimposed, part of a longer meme video depicting Trump as “King of the Jungle” and portraying Democratic leaders as animals, including President Joe Biden as a primate eating a banana. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the video as a humorous reference to Disney’s “The Lion King,” dismissing criticism as “fake outrage.”
The video drew swift condemnation from public figures and advocacy groups. Republican Sen. Tim Scott called the clip “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and urged its removal. NAACP President Derrick Johnson described it as “blatantly racist, disgusting, and utterly despicable,” asserting that Trump was attempting to distract from current economic issues and attention on the Jeffrey Epstein case files. Republicans Against Trump similarly criticized the post, saying, “There’s no bottom.”
Historians note that portraying Black individuals as primates has a long and racist history in the U.S., used to justify slavery and dehumanize Black people for centuries. Trump has a longstanding record of personal attacks on the Obamas, including promoting birther conspiracy theories, while also using language widely criticized as racist during his political career. The post comes in the first week of Black History Month, days after a presidential proclamation honoring Black Americans’ contributions to the nation.
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