President Donald Trump is facing widespread criticism from both Republicans and Democrats after sharing a video on his Truth Social account late Thursday night that depicted former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The video, which was deleted from Trump’s account on Friday amid the outcry, included what appeared to be an AI-generated clip set to the song “The Lions Sleep Tonight” that featured images of the Obamas’ faces with their mouths open imposed on the bodies of apes in a jungle setting. The clip was part of a longer video promoting conspiracy theories about voting fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
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The depiction of the Obamas as apes, or monkeys, is in line with a centuries-old racist trope that has historically been used to justify the dehumanization of Black people.
The clip appeared to be taken from a video the conservative meme creator Xerias shared on X in October. The video also depicted other high-profile Democrats as animals, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Former President Joe Biden was also depicted in it as an ape eating a banana, while Trump was portrayed as a lion.
The White House initially defended the video. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told media outlets in a statement. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
But the video was later deleted from Trump’s official Truth Social account and the White House said a staffer had posted it in error after the post drew outrage—including from several members of the President’s own party.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole Black Republican in the upper chamber, posted on X Friday morning.
Scott’s fellow Republican Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska similarly condemned the video and called for it to be taken down and the President to apologize.
“This is totally unacceptable,” Wicker wrote on X.
“Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this,” Ricketts posted on the platform. “The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake: remove this and apologize.”
Another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, called the video “wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake,” and advised it “should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.”
A chorus of Democrats, including the party’s leaders in both houses of Congress, also fiercely criticized the video on Friday and called on Republicans to speak out against the President’s post.
“President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X.
Pushing for Republicans to respond, Jeffries specifically named the Senate Majority Leader. “Why are GOP leaders like John Thune continuing to stand by this sick individual? Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the video “Racist. Vile. Abhorrent.”
“This is dangerous and degrades our country—where are Senate Republicans?” the Democratic leader wrote on X. He demanded that Trump apologize to the Obamas, calling the former President and first lady “two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a small, envious man.”
“As someone who grew up in the civil rights era, I am completely disgusted,” posted Democratic Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi. “Donald Trump has spent years openly spewing hate, bigotry, and division, and this racist stunt is just the latest reminder of who he is. I would say this is a new low, but those who know him know better. There is no bottom. Shame on him.”
Democrats on the House Homeland Security committee, of which Thompson is the ranking member, also responded with furious criticism, calling Trump a “deranged racist” and his presidency “an enduring stain on his country.”
“Every Republican should be forced to look at that image and defend it – out loud,” the committee’s Democrats wrote on X.
Beyond Washington, several state leaders and civil rights organizations also added their voices to the outcry against Trump’s post.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a fierce and outspoken Trump opponent, said in a short post, “Donald Trump is a racist.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, also a vocal opponent of the President who has said he is considering running for the presidency in 2028, also spoke out. Newsom’s press office called Scott “essentially the only Republican with a backbone” in a post on X and said, “Republicans are so WEAK — they can’t even stand up on something like this! Pathetic!”
The NAACP noted that Trump’s sharing of the video comes in the middle of Black History Month, calling the President’s post “a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people.”
“And we’ll remember that in November,” the organization wrote on X.
Trump has a long history of attacking former President Obama. He repeatedly made false claims that Obama was not born in the United States and was ineligible to become president, amplifying the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory. On other occasions, however, he has acknowledged Obama was born in the U.S.
Read more: This Is How the Whole Birther Thing Actually Started
In 2019, the House, then-controlled by Democrats, approved a resolution condemning Trump for “racist comments” after he tweeted that four congresswoman of color should go back to their “broken and crime infested” countries, even though all four were U.S. citizens, and three had been born in the U.S.
Former first lady Obama excoriated Trump and spoke about the racism directed toward herself and her husband in a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” she said. “See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.”
The Obamas have not commented on the video or Trump sharing it on his account.
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