In the first week of Black History Month, President Trump posted a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on social media — a video clip showing the Obamas' faces on apes. The post was later deleted, and the White House blamed a staffer for "erroneously" posting it.
It was one of dozens of posts Trump shared in the middle of the night on his platform Truth Social and came at the end of a minute-long video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the clip before it was deleted, saying "please stop the fake outrage."
Leavitt said it was from an "internet meme" that depicted Trump as king of the jungle while Democrats were shown as characters from The Lion King. Trump's clip did not include any of the longer video Leavitt referred to, which also includes other Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, depicted as animals.
The racist trope depicting Black people as apes or animals has historically been used to dehumanize Black people and to justify slavery.
Criticism of Trump and his post came swiftly, including from some otherwise allied with Trump.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican, said he was "praying it was fake."
"It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it," said Scott, who is Black.
Trump has a history of making racist remarks toward Black people and other people of color.
For years he pushed the false narrative that Obama was not born in the U.S., and he has previously used derogatory language to describe African countries.
He also falsely claimed former Vice President Kamala Harris "turned Black" during the presidential campaign. Harris identifies as Black and Indian American.
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